RWBY: A Neo Outlook on Life: Volume 2
by Novandalis
Summary: Neo and team NEMP (Nemesis) are back and ready for their second year at Beacon. Unknown to them is that old enemies have been lurking, waiting to unveil their new plot. The aftermath of this semester's initiation will set the dark plans in motion, and nobody is prepared for what happens to Neo. Nothing will ever be the same again. Rated M for language, violence, and adult themes.
1. A Triumphant Return

**Hi guys! If you're returning, then the wait is over! The sequel is here! If you're new, I highly recommend reading A Neo Outlook on Life before continuing, but I did my best to kinda sum up the important parts. So yeah, here we are! It's amazing how big this story has gotten, and I hope I can live up to that. It felt a little odd to start this off again since I've gone past all given canon, and I'm going forward with my own plot, canon, story, etc. It's a little daunting, but I know I can do the show justice. Anyway, I'll shut up now. Love you guys. Enjoy. :)**

Chapter 1: A Triumphant Return

The sun began to set over the horizon, dipping down below the line of the ocean and sending a beautiful array of colours through the sky. It was the last day of summer vacation for students attending Beacon. Many of them were taking tonight to relax and reflect on their summers, think about last year, and smile while they thought about the new year would bring. Two girls in particular were standing out on the balcony of their beach house, leaning over the railing and taking in the magnificent sight of the fading light. For them, reflection on the past year was even more meaningful than it was to other.

"Weiss, do you ever wonder what life would be like if things were different?" Neo asked, her mind going back to a day that began devoid of hope, but ultimately turned into the greatest day of her life.

The heiress turned and gave her a confused look, "Different how?"

"Like, what if Cinder hadn't thrown me out that day? What if Yang and Blake had just offed me in the alley instead of taking me to Ozpin? What if Ozpin had turned me in to the police instead of admitting me to Beacon? I wonder sometimes... What if I was still with them?"

"Well, here's what I think," Weiss smiled, leaning over and giving her fiancee a peck on the cheek. "I think with how far you've come after all of that, there's no way you would've stayed with them. You're too good at heart."

Neo chuckled, "True, but Beo wasn't." It felt weird to remember her sister personality now. Ever since their fight for control in her mind, Beo hadn't show up at all. It was definitely a relief to be in total control, but there was still a part of her that missed her.

"I suppose, but even she had a sweet side. What brought this up anyway?"

"Just thinking," Neo shrugged. "It's kinda hard not to." Weiss took a step closer and put her arm around Neo's shoulders, giving a comforting smile. She went to say something, but someone else beat her to it.

"Hey, we offered to let you come back," Mercury grinned from the doorway. He still liked to joke about the past.

Neo turned around and stuck out her tongue, "Did you though? All you and Em said was that she felt bad. I don't think you said she'd take me back."

"Oh please, of course she would've. But you said no. We said she wanted you back, but you turned us down. You'd been at Beacon for all of a day and you were already adamant to stay. Say what you want, but you've definitely got some good in you."

"He's right," Emerald added, stepping out into view from behind him. "And so is Weiss. You were always the good one. I think you would've switched sides regardless. It's Merc and I who should be worried about what would've happened otherwise."

Weiss smiled, "Hey, you could've just killed us like Cinder wanted, but you didn't. You've got some good in you too. I think you're right in doubting Mercury's moral compass though. No offense."

"None taken," the silver-haired boy said with a shrug. "I like to think I would've helped you too."

"You tried to kill us when we escaped!" Neo laughed. "Don't give me that."

He smirked, "True... But I came over in the end, didn't I?" Even though it was true, he was certainly the most unpredictable out of them. They all knew his loyalty usually stayed with whoever had the most perks. But, at least in the past few months, that seemed to have changed.

"Only because you couldn't get away," Emerald pointed out. "Remember when we met you at the loading docks? You looked like-"

"Alright, alright, let's change the subject," Mercury interrupted. "This is the last day of summer, isn't it? We've got a whole new year ahead of us. Let's talk about that."

Neo smiled, "Agreed. So what're you guys looking forward to the most?"

"Seeing Yang," Emerald immediately replied, starting to blush. "I miss her."

Mercury rolled his eyes, "We had everyone over last weekend! It's been all of a five days since you've seen her."

"So? We only started dating at the end of the school year. It's hard to have a new relationship if you hardly ever see each other. Anyway, I'm interested to hear your answer now. What're you excited for?"

"Um... I dunno," he shrugged. "Sparring class? Kinda miss fighting."

"I'm looking forward to get back to training in general," Weiss chimed in. "What about you, Neo?"

Neo smiled, "I'm looking forward to starting the year off right. No special treatments, no gimmicks, just going to school as a normal girl like everyone else. I'm ready to start making a difference."

"I dunno about you, but I think we made a huge difference," Emerald replied, not sure exactly what Neo meant. "We stopped Roman and Cinder, didn't we? The media pretty much called us heroes for saving the Vytal Festival."

"Well, yeah, but it was also kinda our fault that that happened in the first place." Everyone laughed, and eventually turned their gazes back out over the ocean. The sun had just slipped below the horizon and the hues in the sky had all but faded. Still, Neo found a comfort in looking into the growing darkness. She knew that the next time light shined through, she'd see it fall on Beacon.

Later that night, Neo and Weiss were lying in bed back in their room, and Neo was acting very distant. She was the little spoon tonight, and wasn't being very responsive when Weiss nuzzled up to her. "Neo? Are you okay?" the heiress asked after a moment.

Neo sighed, "Weiss... am I good person?" She still couldn't shake her thoughts from earlier about herself and Cinder. It wasn't that she wanted to think about it, but it kept crawling back to the front of her mind no matter how much she tried to bury it.

"Of course you're a good person. Why wouldn't you think that?"

"I've done a lot of terrible things..." Neo quietly replied, feeling a tear starting to roll down her cheek. She hated remembering those parts of her past, but she couldn't seem to escape them. The memories kept flooding back into her mind. "I've killed a lot of people..."

Weiss frowned and pulled Neo even closer to her, "Think of how many people you've saved. There were tens of thousands of people at the festival. I guarantee you've saved fifty people for every one you've taken out."

"I don't see it like that," Neo said, her voice cracking while she rolled over to face Weiss. "They were all good, innocent people... Soldiers, store owners, civilians... The things I did to them..."

Weiss could see Neo was about to cry, and refused to let it happen. She smiled and pulled her into a kiss, wrapping her arms tightly around the girl's shoulders and trying to make her forget about anything else. "Neo, you're a good person," she said as soothingly as she could. "Your past isn't who you are. You are. And you're the most wonderful person I've ever met. Don't ever forget how far you've come."

Neo blushed and started to smile, "Thanks, Weiss. I love you."

"I love you too. Now, let's get some sleep. We'll be needing it."

The next morning came incredibly early for the four of them. It was an eight hour flight back to Beacon, and since they had to be there by five o'clock, they were under a bit of a time crunch. Luckily, Weiss being Weiss made getting through the airport much faster. They boarded their flight and sat in first class, and Neo could feel her excitement growing. Usually the sound of the engines roaring to life gave people butterflies for a whole different reason, but for Neo they were in anticipation for getting back to the school that she knew as her home.

' _Alright, here we go,_ ' she thought happily, watching the ground steadily shrink out the window. ' _I can't wait to be back at school. Not that vacation isn't nice and all, but I like having things to keep me occupied. That and training and stuff is really fun. I hope the missions they let us go on this year are more exciting though. I'm all for safety, but I'm ready to kick some serious bad guy ass._ '

She ended up dozing off not long into the flight, as did the rest of the group, and when she opened her eyes again she could see Beacon's shining towers off in the distance. "Weiss, Weiss! Look!" she exclaimed while elbowing the heiress awake.

"Stop it!" Weiss growled, very unhappy to be awoken so rudely. Her glare softened when she followed Neo's finger and looked to see what she was pointing at. "Oh wow! We're almost there!"

Mercury stirred from his chair, "Can you keep it down, please? Trying to-"

"Get up!" Neo interrupted. She grabbed him by the shoulder and shook him until he didn't have a choice and finally opened his eyes. Emerald was woken up in the process as well and gave a wide yawn while she watched Neo and Mercury get into a bit of a slap fight.

Weiss rolled her eyes and gave the two a light smack on the back of the head, "Knock it off! Can you at least pretend to be adults for a few minutes?"

"Nope," Neo chuckled before looking back out the window. The light in her eyes only grew the closer they got. The airship docked and let them all off, and they rushed into the main courtyard to see if any of their friends had arrived. Sure enough, three familiar faces were waiting to greet them.

"You're here!" Ruby exclaimed, rushing forward along with Blake and Yang to pull the four new arrivals into a big group hug. "I'm so happy to see you!"

Yang smiled and looked at Emerald, "Me too! You in particular." Emerald blushed when they shared a quick kiss, getting a few laughs from everyone.

"So how was your flight?" Blake asked. "There was a lot of turbulence on ours. Jaune threw up a lot."

Mercury shrugged, "Ours was alright. Could've slept a little longer, but that's just me."

"Oh shut up," Neo replied, sticking her tongue out at her teammate. "It was great! And now we're all here! Well, almost all of us. Where's Jaune and the rest of team JNPR? What about Penny?"

Ruby nodded, "Team JNPR went up to their dorm. I think they're unpacking already. I don't know about- PENNY!" She squealed with delight and ran past everyone back in the direction of the docking point, which they all took to mean that Penny had just gotten in.

"Hi Ruby!" the ginger girl excitedly greeted Ruby, wrapping her in a tight hug. "And salutations, friends and teammates! Are you ready for a wonderful new year of school?"

"You bet!" Neo cheered, along with Weiss and Yang. "How was your summer?"

"It was wonderful! My father let me do a lot of new training exercises, and I've even gotten a few upgrades to my main systems! I'm faster, stronger, and more combat ready than ever!"

Emerald grinned, "Then we should have no problem taking the top of the leaderboards this semester. Maybe even-"

Professor Ozpin's voice suddenly interrupted her as it came over the loudspeakers, "Would all second year students please make their way to the main hall at this time. Your briefing will be given in fifteen minutes."

"That's us!" Ruby exclaimed. "Come on, let's go!"

Neo looked confused, "Briefing? What briefing?"

"For second year initiation. Oh, right, you weren't here at the start of last year. We were sent into the forest to find chess pieces, and that's how we got put in our teams. I don't know what it'll be for this year though. Probably just a training exercise to get us back in the game."

They took the short time until they needed to report in to drop their luggage off in their new dorm. They meet up with team JNPR along the way and had another round of hugs and greetings before hurrying to their meeting. The three teams stood together near the back since they were a little late, but were just in time to see Ozpin walk up to the microphone.

"Hello everyone, and welcome back to Beacon," the headmaster warmly greeted them. "All of you have successfully passed your first year at this academy, and are now prepared to take the next step towards becoming Huntsmen and Huntresses. As you may recall, we began last year with an exercise that placed you into the teams you've spent the last two semesters with. This year we'll be giving you a similar task, but you'll learn more about that tomorrow morning. Until then you should rest, reconnect with your friends, and brace yourself for the difficult morning to come."

Ruby looked almost worried as Ozpin walked off, "Uhh... That was even more ominous than last year... Should we be afraid?"

"Nah," Yang shrugged. "I think we took on the best the forest had to offer last year. What more could they throw at us?"

Jaune just shook his head, "Don't jinx us. I'd rather not ride another Deathstalker if I can avoid it."

The crowd of students soon dispersed, and the first priority on most people's minds was dinner. Naturally, team RWBY, JNPR, and NEMP took that time to talk and laugh about their summer vacations. Even though they'd all gotten together earlier in the week, there was something more fulfilling about sharing their memories and experiences here at school. The night wore on, and they ended up being the last group of people to leave the dining hall. They probably would've stayed there long into the night, but eventually the staff had to close the hall, and they needed to get some sleep anyway.

All of their dorm rooms ended up being in the same hallway, so walking back and saying goodnight was made much easier. Neo also liked it because it meant they'd be able to hang out all the time, and Weiss would always be a just door away. In fact, quite a few of them enjoyed the arrangement for that reason. After getting inside, she and the rest of her team unpacked and did a bit of decorating and reorganizing to make it feel more familiar and welcoming. By the time they were done they were more than ready for bed, and few quick showers later, the lights were off and sleep was setting in for most of them. Neo was the only one still laying wide awake.

' _Okay, just relax and get some sleep,_ ' Neo told herself, tossing and turning for a bit before finding a comfortable position. ' _How bad can tomorrow really be? It's just the forest. Nothing scarier than anything else I've fought, right...? Right. There's nothing out there that can take us down. Get ready, team NEMP is back._ '

She finally managed to drift off to sleep, and dreamt of her time back with Cinder. It wasn't anything specific, just her, Emerald, and Mercury back before everything had happened. She didn't know it was a dream, but she did feel like something was wrong. There was a sense that she was out of place, or just shouldn't be there. The dream eventually passed and the night went on, and she was woken up the next morning by a gentle shake on her shoulder. Grumbling from the disturbance, she turned over to see Penny standing above her with a smile.

"Good morning, Neo!" she said with more energy than the rest of her teammates combined. "Are you excited for our mission today?"

Neo groaned and wrapped herself back in her covers, "Yeah, that's one word for it..." She finally got up, along with the rest of her teammates, and started getting dressed and ready for the day. She could feel her anxiety returning about what could be in store for them, but that wasn't the only thing occupying her thoughts. Her dream from that night was still fresh in her mind. On one hand she was relieved that being back had felt so wrong, but part of her was afraid that it had some deeper meaning. Nevertheless, she tried to push it aside and stay focused. After all, she had a feeling she'd need to be.

"So what do you think we'll be doing today?" Emerald asked before she flopped back onto her bed.

Neo shrugged, "I dunno, but I'm guessing it won't be as easy as we hope it'll be."

"Well I think we'll do just fine!" Penny said with her usual brand of cheerful confidence. "There's nothing team NEMP can't do!"

Mercury smirked, "Not true. We can't show our faces in Verdentown."

"Really? Why is that?"

"Long story," Emerald replied with an exasperated sigh. "It's Neo's fault. She was the one who made the chandelier fall from walking on it."

"Bite me," Neo grinned. "I took out the target, didn't I?"

"Yeah, and about a dozen other people. Not one of them being the armed guards. Remember how many bullets we had to dodge?"

Mercury shrugged, "Wasn't that bad. Atlas Intentional Shipyard was worse."

"Oh God," Emerald groaned. "How was I supposed to know that's what was in that shipping crate? It could just as easily have been filled with pillows!"

"Are you two finished?" Neo cut in, despite her love of watching them argue. "We need to head out soon if we're gonna be on time."

They met up with team RWBY and team JNPR in the hallway after everyone had finished their morning routines, and grabbed a quick breakfast before making their way to the same spot they'd had their initiation last year. It was the first time being here for team NEMP, so it carried the same sort of intimidation as it had for everyone else before. The high cliffs and dense, dark expanse of forest below didn't serve as any comfort to them. On top of that, they could hear the various calls and distant grunts from whatever creatures were lying in wait in the shadows.

Professor Ozpin stood waiting as the students slowly filed in. He was soon joined by Professor Goodwitch, and once everyone had arrived he decided to get started. "Good morning," he greeted them. "Now then, I suppose I should reveal your task. Similar to last year, you'll all be launched out into the forest at different speeds and headings to split you up. Your objective is to team up and retrieve an artifact at the base of a deep canyon to the east. However, this will not be as easy as last time. The obstacles you will face cannot be defeated alone, in pairs, or even by a single team. That being said, you'll not be given a way to find your current teammates. Find who you can, group up, and take on these foes to complete your task."

Glynda nodded, "The goal of this exercise is to test your ability to react and fight with people you may not have before. It's very likely that in your professional career, you'll need to work with other teams at a moment's notice, and part of that is knowing when to step up, when to act, and, most importantly, when to step down. It is very likely that multiple team leaders will find each other, and that groups will form without any preappointed leaders. It is up to you to decide how to structure yourselves, and how to proceed."

"Are there any questions?" Ozpin asked, looking over the mix of frightened and nervous faces. "Excellent. Good luck."

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	2. A Grimm Reality

Chapter 2: A Grimm Reality

"One more thing," Ozpin said as he stepped to the side. "The creatures you'll be facing are ones you've only seen before in your textbooks. As I'm sure you're aware by now, there is a considerable difference between theoretical and practical knowledge, and they will prove far more difficult to handle than mere pages can reflect. Now then, off you go. I'll see you all back here by sundown."

At the headmaster's command, the launch pads started hurling students out into the forest one by one. Neo looked between her friends and teammates to see if they had any ideas of how to regroup, but they all looked just as uncertain as she did. She went to say something, but the pad to her right went off as she was about to, and she was forced to brace herself for launch. "Good luck, guys!" she shouted as she was catapulted her into the sky.

She kept a spread eagle position through the air as she reached and went over her arc. Once she was free falling she opened her umbrella to slow herself down a bit and give herself a few extra seconds to spot a way to land. When the trees got close enough she closed the umbrella's canopy, grabbed onto it with both hands, and hooked the handle around a sturdy branch as she fell through the treetops. She did a few rotations around it while she slowed down before finally dropping down to the forest floor, a bit green from all the spinning.

' _Okay, now to find everyone else,_ ' she thought, peering out into the trees. ' _Don't know what we'll be fighting, but Ozpin sure made it sound ominous. I wonder what we could be up against that he would want us to have multiple teams together for._ '

"Hello?" she called out, getting no answer. "HELLO? Shit... Alright, guess I have to do this the hard way."

She took off running through the nearest opening in the brush and kept her eyes open for any signs of the others or where they may have landed. What scared her a bit was that the forest was eerily quiet once she was down in the thick of it. The noises she'd heard from the cliffs had all but stopped, and that made moving along much more nerve racking. "Hello?" she called out again, hoping there would be someone close by now to help keep her from freaking out. "Can anyone hear me?"

"Neo?" a familiar voice came back from far off to her right. "Neo, is that you?"

She stopped and breathed a sigh of relief, "Yeah, it's me. I'm headed your way, Em." She waded through the thick bush until she popped out in a small clearing and found Emerald there waiting for her. "Okay, that's half of the team. Now to find Mercury and Penny."

"Easier said than done," Emerald replied, looking around to make sure no Grimm had followed either of them. There were none in sight, but the sound of snapping twigs and crunching leaves was coming from all around them. "We should get out of here. Like, now."

"Agreed," Neo hastily nodded, and they took off again through the trees. "We should look for other people around the edge of the canyon. Which way is east?"

"It's before noon, so the sun is still in the eastern part of the sky. This way, come on!" Emerald replied. She made a sharp turn and Neo followed behind her. The density of the forest started to thin the further they went, and soon they could see the light at the edge of the thicket. They came out of the tree line and had to immediately stop to not fall off into the ravine.

"Holy shit," Neo said with a shortness of breath. Both from running, and from the view of the canyon. They were standing right on the edge of the massive indentation in the land, which stretched for miles out toward the horizon. The drop in front of them was easily three hundred feet, but there were other places they could see that were far deeper. There were tunnels dug into every wall at the base as well, which put Neo a bit on edge. "What do you think made those holes?"

Emerald shook her head, "I don't know, but I can't imagine it's anything good. So we're here. Where's everyone else?"

Neo shrugged and swept her eyes over the rim of the canyon. For a while it seemed like they were the only ones there, but then she saw two people emerge from the trees way off in the distance. She couldn't see who they were at first, but once she focused she could make out a boy wearing a lot of grey, and a girl in gold and red. "Hey, Mercury! Pyrrha! Over here!" she shouted, waving her hands high above her head.

They waved back and yelled something she couldn't make out, but she knew what it was since they started running over to her. "Boy are we glad to see you," Pyrrha smiled once they had met up. "Did you run into that pack of Beowolves too?"

Emerald gave her a confused look, "No? We heard a lot of stuff moving around, but we took off before we figured out what it was."

"Coward," Mercury teased. "Nah, we didn't stay to fight 'em either. Three dozen at least. Not good."

Neo instinctively looked back into the forest to make sure nothing had followed. "Coast looks clear for now," she said. "I don't think we should stay here though. We-"

A rapid series of gunshots from inside the trees cut her off, and her head snapped back to see if she could find their source. Unfortunately they were too distant, and the forest was too thick. Her first thought was to check it out, so she turned to her friends to see what they thought. All of their faces said to go in a help, and she nodded in silent acknowledgment of the unspoken plan. They all started running in the direction of the gunfire, which got louder the closer they got. The snarls of the Beowolves came into earshot as well, and it sounded like enough of them to be the pack Mercury had described.

A shrill scream followed after a loud thud when they got close, and it sent a shiver of fear down Neo's spine. "R-Ruby! Help!" Weiss screamed not far in the distance. "Get them off me!"

Neo burst through the trees and into a small open space, and found Weiss and Ruby cornered separately by Beowolves. Ruby seemed alright, but Weiss was leaning heavily against a tree and holding her side. A large, red stain was growing steadily outward from just below her ribs. "Weiss, duck!" Neo shouted without breaking stride, and the heiress obeyed before she even registered who gave the command.

Emerald emptied her magazines across the circle of Grimm and sent her chain blades into the back of the two closest to Weiss. She yanked back to pull them away, letting Neo jump into the opening and get to Weiss. The Beowolves all turned on her and the rest of the new arrivals, so Neo had an opportunity to look at Weiss' wound.

The heiress winced at Neo's touch, "Ow! G-Gentle, it hit me after m-my aura had depleted."

Neo nodded and gingerly moved Weiss' arm to get a look at the cut. There were three fairly large gashes in the girl's side, but thankfully none of them appeared to be very deep. They were bleeding a lot though, and Neo needed to find a way to stop it. She ripped the sleeve off her blouse and pulled Weiss' sash from her waist, then bound the bundled sleeve to the heiress' body. "How's that feel?" she asked, tightly tying the knot to keep pressure on it.

"A-Alright, I guess... It r-really hurts, but I'll be okay. It's a good thing you got here when you did. I don't think I w-would've been able to fight them all off. We killed a lot of them before you came, but they just kept coming."

Mercury cleared his throat behind them, "Hey, the Grimm are taken care of. You two weren't all that helpful."

"Oh shut up," Neo chuckled while she helped Weiss back to her feet. "Is everyone else alright?"

"Yeah, we're good," Ruby replied, giving Weiss a worried look. "Will do you be okay?"

The heiress grimaced as she took a few steps forward, but still nodded, "I-I'll be fine, but we need to move. Have you guys found the canyon?"

Neo led the way back out of the forest with Weiss leaning on her shoulder. The sounds of the Grimm had mostly faded now, but nobody was willing to let their guard down. Once they were out and appeared to be safe they all sat down and caught their breath. Ruby had a few cuts from the encounter, as did Emerald, and they took a minute to patch themselves up as well. Weiss' makeshift bandage was still holding up, which was good since they didn't have the proper medical kit to do something better.

"So what's the plan?" Mercury asked after they were all ready to move again.

Neo shrugged, "Find as many people as we can, get the artifact, and get back to Beacon. Simple. We should probably choose a leader first before we start. Ruby, do you wanna lead the team or should I? I don't really care either way."

"I'll leave that to you if you don't mind," the redhead smiled. "We've got a pretty strong group here though, so I think we're ready to head down."

"What about the rest of our teammates?" Pyrrha asked, looking over into the canyon. "Do you think they're already down there? I- Hey, I think I see someone! Look, under that rock arch."

Neo squinted her eyes, "It's too far, I can't tell who it is. You're definitely right though, someone's already down there. Or something... Ruby, can you take a look?"

Ruby nodded, "No problem." She extended Crescent Rose to its full scythe form and stuck the blade into the ground for stability. She angled the barrel toward the group of students and looked through the scope to see if she could identify them. "Let's see... It's... It's Jaune! Ren, Nora, and Penny too! And Cardin... Looks like the whole of team CRDL. I don't see Blake or Yang with them."

Emerald sighed, "Sucks to be them... Should we-?"

"WAIT! Something just attacked them!" Ruby gasped.

"What do you mean?" Weiss asked, trying to see what was going on. "What was it?"

"I don't know, it was too fast. It hit Sky really hard from what I can tell. They all look really scared... They're running now. I can't see what's chasing them at all... Shoot, they're out of sight!"

Pyrrha looked to Neo with worry in her eyes, "We need to get down there and help them."

"Right," Neo said, trying to find the fastest way down. "I think I see a path. Pyrrha, help me with Weiss."

It took some time, but eventually they managed to get to the canyon floor. Weiss suggested that they leave her up above and go themselves, arguing that it would be faster, but that was simply too dangerous. The downside of bringing her with them was that they weren't likely going to make it to their friends in time to help them. They didn't have any other leads on where to go though, so they started walking toward where they'd last seen them.

"Keep your guard up," Ruby said as they entered a darker section of the ravine. The strange holes and tunnels were growing more numerous as they went along, and Neo swore she could hear something moving inside them.

"Fuck, I don't like this," Mercury said. "Look at the coating on the ground... These tunnels are covered in webs... It's Shadowfangs."

"Shadowfangs?" Emerald asked. "What're Shadowfangs?"

"Giant Grimm spiders," he replied. "Just as bad as they sound. About the size of an Ursa, can shoot webs at you. The webs have a digestive enzyme on them, so they'll cause serious chemical burns the instant they touch your skin. Get trapped in one and you'll literally be digested alive. Then there's the venom. If they bite you, yell out immediately. The venom can be fatal in under half an hour. Makes being a melee fighter a bit more difficult. And that's just the small ones."

"Judging by the amount of webs, it looks like there's a lot of them here," Weiss said in an uneasy voice, and she wasn't the only one feeling that way. "These things aren't like Beowolves or Ursa's. They don't just hunt in packs, they swarm. They lay in wait until they can overwhelm you before you even know what's happening. With this many webs and nests, there has to be a Queen here. I really hope we don't run into her..."

Emerald shuddered, "Okay, I know I'm gonna regret asking, but-"

"Yup, it gets worse," Mercury interrupted. "Imagine the butt and legs of a spider with an upright body and arms, and still a spider head. They're absolutely horrifying."

They continued walking, and the skittering coming from the tunnels grew steadily more frequent, and the clanking of legs and quiet hissing seemed to follow them along. Neo knew they were being watched, hunted, but had no idea how to react. They were on their own in a barren, open ravine, with no easy way out. Anything that attacked them could easily get the advantage, and an ambush seemed more and more likely the further they went along. Neo shook her head, "This is bad… We need to get to higher ground."

"Guys..." Ruby said in a low voice, abruptly coming to a stop. "Look..." The rest of the group stopped as well and turned their eyes to where she was looking. All of the holes in front of them were filled with multiple pairs of glowing red eyes, sending a jolt of fear through all of them and casting an eerie glow along the cliffsides.

' _Uh oh,_ ' Neo thought, looking back and seeing that the tunnels behind them were occupied as well. ' _There's so many of them... Can we fight them all? I don't think Weiss will be able to hold her own..._ '

"What's the plan?" Pyrrha asked. She readied to spear and shield, and everyone else followed her lead with their own weapons.

Neo tried to look confident, but her fear was showing as she spoke. "We need to keep moving. I don't think we can-"

One of the Shadowfangs shot out from its burrow before she could finish, lunging straight for Ruby. The caped girl had no problem slashing through it, but that served as the queue for every other spider to attack as well. Before the group knew it, there were easily twenty Grimm charging at them from every direction.

"Stay together!" Neo shouted as they started to fight. "Don't let them corner you or get you on your own!" It became very apart to her that fighting them head on wasn't going to work. With how melee heavy her fighting style was, and the reach of their legs as fangs, she needed another strategy. There wasn't much she could do though, so her role in the fight turned into mostly being a distraction and calling out warnings. Her umbrella turned out to be a huge help in blocking incoming sprays of webs. None of them were particularly well suited for handling this many enemies, and it seemed like three came back for every two they killed.

"Neo!" Weiss yelled, catching the girl's attention. She was struggling a lot to keep up because of her wound, and was failing to keep the Grimm off her.

Neo jumped between the heiress and the Shadowfang she was fighting, and did her best to land a hit on its eyes. It managed to deflect a few blows with its legs and lash back at her, but at last she connected a hard dropkick between its eyes, giving her the chance to pull her sword and finish it off. She turned to the next closest one to keep going, and was immediately swatted away by its front leg. The hit send her into the wall of the ravine, and the sharp rocks cut deep into her sleeveless arm.

"Shit," she swore, holding her arm from the pain as blood started flowing down. She got back to her feet and ran back into the fray, and despite the number of injuries it seemed for the moment that they would be okay with how well Ruby and Emerald were able to take down the spiders.

A deafening screech filled the air then, and the group was almost brought to its knees from the volume alone. Neo's heart sank when she saw the massive Broodmother crawl out of the largest tunnel entrance, followed by more Grimm than she could keep track of. The sea of spiders surrounded them again, covering the ground as well as the walls. The sight of that many red eyes staring at them was the most frightening thing any of them had ever seen.

"Well fuck," Mercury growled. "Anyone have any ideas?"

Neo shook her head, "Not really... Keep your guard up and fight as best you can. Keep an eye out for ways to escape."

The Shadowfangs charged in again, and it was almost impossible to tell what was happening. Everything was just a blur of legs, fangs, and webs. Neo used her umbrella and her sword to block as much as she could, but the hits kept coming from every direction and every angle. She couldn't fight at all, just tried her best to avoid the fangs. ' _We need to get out of here,_ ' she desperately thought. ' _There's way too many. We'll never be able to kill them all. Fuck, I can't even find anyone else in all this. What do we- Wait, where's-?_ '

"Guys!" Weiss suddenly screamed in terror. "I need heAHHHH!"

Neo whipped her head around to see Weiss collapsing to the ground, and Ruby slicing a Shadowfang in half. Her stomach dropped when she saw two puncture wounds in Weiss' shoulder. "WEISS!" she yelled and rushed to the heiress' side. There was a lot of blood, and Weiss wasn't moving. "Weiss, talk to me. Can you hear me?"

"Fuck… N-Neo..." the heiress said weakly, the colour already starting to fade from her cheeks. "How b-bad is it?"

"It's... It's fine," Neo choked out. Tears were already streaming down her cheeks. She could see how badly the bite was bleeding, and had a sinking feeling that one of the fangs had hit an artery. "Just stay with me, okay? Keep talking to me."

The heiress looked fearful, "I-I can't... I can't see..."

"Stay with me, Weiss. Just hang on, we'll get you out of here."

"I-I... I can't feel my arm... Everything's s-so cold... I... I..." She trailed off, and went limp in Neo's arms. Neo could still feel the faint beat of her heart, but that wasn't much of a comfort. She knew how quickly the venom worked.

"Neo!" Emerald called out in panic. "There's too many of them! We need to get out of here!"

Neo turned her head up to see her friends backing up toward her and Weiss, and more than four dozen Shadowfangs surrounding them, slowly closing in. She looked between her friends, then down at Weiss. "I can't leave her here..." she said.

"Can't you teleport us out?" Pyrrha asked, making a few slashes toward the advancing Grimm to keep them away.

Neo shook her head, "Not with five other people. Taking three people almost killed me when we escaped Cinder. Five would kill all of us."

"So two people have to stay behind, huh?" Mercury asked, then cracked his knuckles. "I'm pretty expendable. And if I'm going out here, I'm taking as many of them down with me as I can."

"I wouldn't have it any other way," Ruby added with a determined look. "Pyrrha, Emerald, get out of here. Get Weiss to safety."

The Broodmother let out another ear-splitting shriek, and her spawn all swarmed in toward the group of friends. Neo put one hand on Weiss and reached out to take the others, but a bright flash of light above them made her stop and look up. A storm of purple shards rained down around them, skewering the onslaught of incoming foes. The Broodmother howled and shot a barrage of webs at the source, but they were all deflected. It kept at it for a moment before realising it was a lost cause, and quickly retreated back into its burrow.

"Quick, help me with miss Schnee," Professor Goodwitch said as she and Oobleck landed in the base of the canyon. Oobleck and Neo both helped get Weiss into Glynda's arms, and it was obvious that they didn't have long to act. "Neo, teleport us to the top of the canyon. Oobleck, stay with the rest and get them all out of here."

Neo grabbed the professor's shoulder without hesitation and used whatever reserve of her energy she had left to take them to the top of the ravine. She fell to her knees from exhaustion, and Professor Goodwitch immediately sprinted forward. Neo looked up and saw an airship had landed, presumably how Glynda has gotten here, and there were doctors waiting on the ramp to look at Weiss right away. It took the last of her strength, but Neo ran onto the ship with her and stayed by Weiss the entirety of the flight. She refused to let the doctors take her aside to stitch up her arm, so they ended up wrapping it for the time being to let her stay standing next to Weiss. She wasn't going to leave her side, not for anything.

When they arrived back on campus they had already gotten Weiss onto a stretcher, and rushed her into the hospital. Again, Neo didn't leave her side at any point. It wasn't until they went through the doors into the emergency room that she had to stop and watch helplessly as Weiss disappeared behind the doors. All she could do was wait. She sat down in the hallway and cried into her hands for what felt like hours. She tried to stay strong, to believe that Weiss would be okay, but there was a nagging feeling that she'd heard the last of her fiancee's voice back in the canyon. The thought that Weiss could be gone brought her back to tears every time it appeared in her mind.

She finally let the nurses take a proper look at her arm then, and ended up with thirty stitches before she was let out into the waiting room. The rest of her friends arrived shortly after, and they all sat waiting for news on their friend's condition. It was just over an hour before the doctors brought Weiss out of surgery and put her in one of the nicer rooms the hospital had to offer. A nurse came out to tell them, and Neo sprinted to see her before anyone else had time to stand up. She found Weiss laying under the sheets in bed with a lot of heavy dressings on her shoulder. She was hooked up to a lot of equipment and monitors as well, and still wasn't conscious. There was a doctor in the room writing a few things on the heiress' chart, and Neo was afraid to ask him what they were.

"H-How is she?" she hesitantly asked.

The doctor paused before answering, "That's difficult to answer... We had to put her in a medically induced coma to slow the spread of the toxins and try to let her body recover. The anti-venom did its job, but the bite punctured her brachial artery. It's possible the venom may have damaged her brain and many other organs beyond repair. Her basic brain functions are stable, which is good since that means there's no damage to the brainstem, but I can't say anything more until she wakes up. The only problem is..."

"You don't know if she'll wake up..." Neo finished, and the doctor nodded. "Alright... Thank you, doctor."

"Of course. If she regains consciousness at any point while you're here, press the orange button on the wall panel behind you right away." He turned and left, and the rest of Neo's friends caught up and entered as he went out.

Ruby nervously gulped, "How's she doing?"

Neo went through the same explanation the doctor had given her, and it only confirmed what everyone had feared. "I don't know what to do..." she said in a shaky voice.

"There's nothing you really can do," Pyrrha sighed. "You did the best you could, and you got her out of the canyon safely. Hopefully that's enough."

Mercury nodded, "Yeah. I was ready to die for her and the rest if you, so she'd better pull through."

The joke made everyone laugh, and it wasn't until that moment that Neo realised what had actually happened back there. ' _He's right,_ ' she thought in amazement. ' _He and Ruby were both going to stay back so we could escape, even though they didn't know if Weiss would make it. They were willing to die for us..._ '

"Thank you," she smiled. "You too, Ruby. That was the bravest thing I've seen in a long time."

The redhead smiled back at her, "That's what being a Huntress is all about. We fight to stop the Grimm, and die to save others. I just always sorta figured the dying part would happen on some crazy hard mission, not from training."

"Speaking of which, what does this mean for the initiation?" Penny asked. "We failed, didn't we? We never reached the artifacts."

Pyrrha shrugged, "I don't know. Honestly, I'm not concerned with my grade for this."

"Perhaps I can answer that," Professor Ozpin said from the doorway, catching everyone by surprise. "We always strive to make initiations at a level appropriate for the students undergoing them. Unfortunately, we underestimated what that brood was capable of, and how quickly they had come back since we last sent students down into the canyon. I'll be making an announcement tonight that you won't be graded on this mission, and that classes are being pushed back a week to let students properly recover."

Ruby gasped, "How many people got hurt?"

"More than I'd care to admit. Weiss isn't the only one who may not recover... Sky Lark is in critical condition, and there are a number of students with serious injuries. Miss Nikos, I suggest you go visit Nora down the hall. She suffered a broken collar bone and five broken ribs. Jaune and Ren and there already. She'll be alright, but she's in a tremendous amount of pain."

Pyrrha nodded and was out the door in an instant. Ruby looked scared, "What about Blake and Yang?"

The headmaster sighed, "Your sister is fine, relatively speaking, but Blake has a concussion and several fractures along her left leg and pelvis. I believe they're on the floor above us. Come with me, I'll take you to them."

He led her out of the room and to the elevator, leaving Neo, Emerald, and Mercury. "Neo, do you mind if I follow them?" Emerald asked. "I need to see how Yang is."

"I should check on Ruby too," Penny added.

Neo nodded, "Not at all. Mercury, you can go too if you don't wanna stay here."

"If you're sure," he said. "I'll check on Nora and let you know how she's doing, and how the rest of JNPR is holding up."

Now it was just Neo left alone in the room, and she couldn't take her eyes off of Weiss. Everything had happened so fast today that it almost didn't seem real. She kept waiting for this dream to be over, for Weiss to open her eyes, but it didn't happen. She felt herself starting to cry again, and dropped to her knees beside the bed. "Please wake up, Weiss," she begged, putting her head down on the mattress. "Please wake up..."

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	3. Awakening

**WARNING: THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS VOLUME 3 SPOILERS! If you're not caught up with the show, I highly recommend you get caught up before reading so you'll know the plot points I'm referencing. You've been warned.**

 **Hi everyone! Sorry it's been so long. Not only have I been busy, but the latest few episodes are really throwing me some curveballs. So clearly I got some backstory wrong, and the general setup of the tournament, but oh well. In this story, Cinder raised them from when they were orphaned kids. Minor details. :P Anyway, sorry for the wait, and I hope you enjoy!**

Chapter 3: Awakening

"Good afternoon, students," Professor Ozpin said over the loudspeaker system. It was the Sunday before class were due to resume, and most everyone had recovered from the second year initiation disaster. "I'm pleased to inform all of you that Sky Lark is no longer in critical condition. He'll still be in recovery for another few weeks, but those of you who want to visit him in the infirmary are more than welcome to. Again, we always strive to make this a safe learning environment, and on behalf of all of us, we extend our sincerest apologies for what happened. I wish all of you the best on your first day of class tomorrow."

Neo sighed as the loudspeaker crackled from the microphone being switched off. She looked up to Weiss' bed and then over to the monitors around it. The heiress' vitals hadn't changed over the week, which came as both a relief and disconcern. Her shoulder was healing fairly well, but that wasn't the problem. The doctor had already said if Weiss didn't show any improvements within five days it would be time to worry, and Neo was far beyond worry now. What's more, some sort of change brain activity would have to happen as well, and the screens still showed the same patterns as before.

"Hey, Neo," Emerald said from the door to Weiss' room, catching her friend's attention. "I brought you some lunch. How're you feeling?"

Neo smiled, "I'm hangin' in there. Thanks." She took the brown paper bag Emerald handed her and dug into the sandwich she'd been packed. She hadn't left the room since Weiss had been moved into it, so her friends had gotten into the habit of bringing her food. "It's day six... I'm really scared that she's not coming back..."

Emerald shook her head, "It hasn't even been a week. She suffered some really serious trauma from that bite. That's not the kind of thing you just recover from this quickly."

"I don't expect her to get up and be fine, but even with these injuries she should be awake by now if she's okay. What if she's conscious right now and completely paralysed? Can you imagine how horrible that would be? I just... I want her to wake up so badly... I don't know what to do..."

"You're doing all you can," Emerald smiled, putting her hand on Neo's shoulder. "When she wakes up, and I do mean when, she'll be touched by your dedication to her. If this room didn't have a bathroom attached, I get the feeling you would've still found a way not to leave."

Neo smiled and looked back at Weiss, "Damn right I would've. I'm not sure what I'm gonna do about classes and everything now, but I'll worry about that tomorrow morning."

"I'm sure Ozpin would excuse you. Hey, I'm gonna head out. Oh, we're gonna order dinner to RWBY's room later since Blake is still stuck in bed. I know you're gonna say no, but Ruby insisted I ask if you'd join us."

"Yeah, I'll just stay here," Neo chuckled. "Tell Ruby I appreciate the offer though. And tell Blake and Nora I hope they feel better soon."

Emerald nodded and went out, leaving Neo alone with Weiss as she had been before. Neo watched the door close and went back to doing practically nothing, just sitting there and listening to the sounds of the monitors. All she wanted was some sign of improvement, some semblance of hope, but nothing changed. A few hours passed, the same as all the others before, and still nothing. Eventually she heard the door handle click again, and was pleasantly surprised at who she saw this time.

"Hello, Neo," a female doctor said as she walked in. "How're you?"

Neo smiled, "I'm doing alright, Doctor Jade. How about you?"

"Wonderful now that Sky has been moved out of intensive care. That just leaves Weiss to fix up, and then we can put this whole mess behind us."

"Does that mean you've found some way to help her?" Neo asked, the hope showing in her voice.

The doctor gave a half shrug, "Possibly. I think that given the amount of time that's passed, it's within reason to look into alternative ways to attempt to heal her."

"Okay...?" Neo said with a sceptical tone. "What exactly does that mean?"

"Don't worry, I'm not suggesting homeopathy or anything ridiculous like that. What I'm looking into is using aura to attempt to help her. There have been studies published where people with strong auras have been able to use them to awaken people from comas. It's called aura donation. The idea being that they project their aura onto the unconscious person, and take that person's aura into themselves to heal it. It's not exactly well documented in in medical journals, but smaller studies have shown incredible results. If you know someone with a strong enough aura it may be possible to try."

Neo thought about it for a moment, but she already knew she was going to try it. She would do anything to get Weiss back. She nodded, "I'd be willing to try. Are they any side effects?"

"That's the only problem," Jade replied. "People who've successfully used this technique have reported an incredibly wide array of side effects. I've seen cases where people have experienced fatigue, nausea, spontaneous cuts and bruises, things like that. Extreme cases have people reporting some truly outrageous symptoms. It's amazing what aura is capable of. I should specify that all of this seems to only affect the person donating their aura, not the unconscious person."

"Then I'm in. I don't care what happens to me as long as Weiss is okay."

The doctor smiled, "Well, I suppose we should get started then. Have you ever used your aura to activate some else's before?"

"Just once," Neo replied. "Is it similar?"

"In a way, yes. Stand beside Weiss as if you were about to help activate her aura. When you succeed in moving yours inside of her, you need to focus on using it to take her own inside you. I know that's very vague, but I'm afraid I can't offer much more than that."

Neo nodded and took a deep breath, then placed her right hand at the base of Weiss' ribs. She concentrated on her aura and soon was engulfed in a soft, pink glow. It started in her chest and moved down her arm and into Weiss, illuminating them both. She strained at the effort of holding it there, and now tried to do what the doctor had said and bring out Weiss' own aura. For a few moments nothing happened, the pink light continuing to pulse inside Weiss, but then a white glow began to emanate from the heiress.

"Excellent, excellent!" Doctor Jade encouraged. "You're doing fantastic!"

Neo didn't pay much attention and kept her entire focus on what she was doing. The white glow moved up her arm and into her chest, sending a strange, tingling feeling throughout her body. It felt similar to when her own aura had grown very, very weak. She held it inside herself while she let it heal, feeling the tingling sensation die down until she couldn't feel it anymore. Both glows started to fade then, and quickly shot back into their original owners. Neo gasped as she felt an immense shock run through her when her aura returned, as if she'd just stuck a fork in a wall outlet, and was knocked back onto the ground.

"Are you alright?" the doctor asked, moving to help Neo to her feet.

Neo nodded, although she felt incredibly dizzy, "Y-Yeah, I'm fine... I feel like I just got kicked in the stomach. Do you think-?" She cut herself off when she heard one of Weiss' monitors change pace, and looked over to see the heiress' heart rate steadily increasing back up to a normal resting level. The brainwave patterns changed as well, although Neo wasn't entirely sure what they meant. "What's happening? Is she okay?"

"I don't believe it," Jade said with a growing smile. "I-I think you did it."

Neo's face lit up and she rushed to the side of the bed, her eyes intently fixated on Weiss'. Five minutes went by without any other changes, and it was starting to look like it hadn't worked. Neo looked down at the floor and felt ready to cry when Weiss suddenly stirred, twitching her fingers and arms, then seemed to adjust her shoulder before slowly opening her eyes. "W-Wha...?" the heiress asked in a groggy voice. "Neo? Ow... What... What happened? Where are we?"

"The hospital," Neo almost screamed in her excitement. "You were bitten during the fight and went into a coma. You've been unconscious for six days. I'm so glad you're awake!" She leant down and gently hugged Weiss, knowing that she was probably very sore.

"Six days?" Weiss asked, happily hugging back. "I missed the whole first week of class?"

Neo giggled, "You would go there first, wouldn't you? No, Ozpin pushed classes back a week after so many people got hurt. It's a good thing too, otherwise I would've missed a week of class along with you."

"What do you mean? Did you get hurt too?"

The doctor shook her head, "No, not seriously. What she meant is that she hasn't left this room since you were admitted."

"Wait, really?" Weiss asked in amazement. "You...? Oh my God, that's the sweetest thing I've ever heard."

Neo blushed, "Are you honestly that surprised? I love you too much to not be here when you woke up."

"You're incredible. I love you too, Neo. So how long do I have to stay here? What're the extent of my injuries?"

"That's a good question," Jade replied, walking over to take a look at Weiss' shoulder. "Your puncture wounds have healed tremendously thanks to Neo. It would appear that her swift healing abilities amplified your own during the donation. Quite honestly, as long as you can pass a few tests, I might clear you to leave today. I'll need you to come back regularly over the next week for checkups though."

Weiss ended up passing all of the necessary physical tests, although just barely, and was kept under observation for an hour just to make sure there weren't any problems that didn't show right away. Neo took that time in the room to explain what had happened in the canyon, what Ozpin had said, and how they'd woken her up. Doctor Jade was there to help her with any questions as well. The time went by and nothing happened, and Weiss left the hospital with Neo at her side, a note to excuse her from combat training, and a prescription for painkillers. Jade also instructed her to avoid any strenuous physical activity for the next few days, hence the excuse. Weiss was still fairly weak, and needed Neo for support as they left. That alone almost made the doctors keep her there overnight, but Weiss insisted she'd rather sleep in her bed.

"That's insane," the heiress said while they walked out. "I still can't believe Ruby and Mercury were really going to stay behind."

Neo smiled, "That was my reaction too, but yeah. Merc was actually the first one to volunteer for it. I know that everyone likes to joke about his loyalties, but he really does care about all of us."

"I know, I know. So tell me more about this aura donation thing. And are you sure you're alright? That list of side effects the doctor rattled off is worrying me."

"There's not much more to tell," Neo shrugged. "And I'm more concerned with your well-being than mine. I feel a little funny, but I don't think I have any crazy side effects. Yet."

"Funny how?"

"I dunno, just that kinda weird in the of of my stomach. Probably just nerves from having you back," Neo replied.

Weiss gave her a concerned look, "Please don't overlook anything. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if something happened to you because of me."

"I won't," Neo smiled. "And don't worry about me. No matter what you say, you'll always come before me, and I'll always be the ready to come to the rescue. Now come on, let's get back to the dorms. Everyone's gonna be really happy to see that you're awake."

"Yeah..." Weiss sighed, looking very distracted by something that Neo had said.

"What's wrong? Don't you want everyone to know you're okay?"

The heiress shook her head, "It's not that. I'm just so tired of being the one who needs saving. I go down so easily, I've been kidnapped twice, I couldn't even fight that day in the alley after we first had lunch."

"That wasn't your fault though," Neo replied in her most comforting voice. "You didn't have your sword with you. And Cinder could've abducted just about anyone if she wanted to."

"But you get what I'm saying. I'm so tired of feeling like the weakest one of us. Just for once, I'd like to be the one doing the saving."

Neo smiled, "I'm sure that day will come. Actually, I really hope it doesn't. I'd be easier for us all to just not need saving in the first place."

They started to laugh as they came to the dorms and made their way back to the rooms. They reached their floor and started down the hall, but stopped when Ozpin's voice came over the loudspeaker. "Would Neopolitan please report to my office. Again, Neopolitan to my office immediately."

"What's that about?" Weiss asked.

Neo shrugged, looking fairly confused, "No idea. Maybe he heard you woke up?"

"I suppose. You should probably go, I can walk the rest of the way from here. I'll go let everyone know I'm alright."

Neo nodded, and they kissed goodbye before she ran across campus to Ozpin's office. There wasn't really a need to run, or at least she didn't think it was that urgent, but she wanted to get her blood pumping again after sitting still for almost an entire week. She took the stairs over the elevator as well, and came through the doors to find Ozpin sitting behind his desk with Professor Goodwitch, General Ironwood, and Ruby's uncle, Qrow, beside him. There were three chairs in front of the desk, and Emerald and Mercury were sitting in the rightmost two.

"Hello, Neo," Ozpin greeted her. "Please, take a seat."

Neo did as she was told and looked over at her teammates, "What's going on? Did something happen?"

Ironwood sighed, "Yes, you could say that. We've got a lot to go over with you."

"Indeed," the headmaster continued. "But I suppose that first I should do some explaining. As you know, your class' initiation went catastrophically. We've been spending the last week analysing what went wrong, and we've made some startling discoveries."

"What does that have to do with us?" Mercury asked.

"A lot, actually," Qrow replied. "As it turns out, Cinder Fall might not be as dead as we hoped. Or, ya know, not at all."

The room went quiet. Of all the things Neo was prepared to hear after seeing who was in the room, that was not even on the list. "Wait, I don't understand," she said. "How could she survive the warehouse explosion? And what would she have to do with initiation?"

Emerald gasped, "The Grimm... She can control Grimm... At least to some degree. I don't know much about it though, I've only seen her use it a handful of times. Is she what made the Shadowfangs super aggressive?"

"Apparently so," Ozpin said. "At least that's our current theory, and what you've just said seems to support it. Upon review of our surveillance footage, we captured video of her in the forest and canyon that day. It would appear that not only is she alive, but she was also attempting to use the Grimm to eliminate you, presumably."

Glynda nodded, "That's not all. Over the past month, there have been a significant increase in large-scale Dust robberies. At first we didn't pay much attention to it since it's not our area of concern, and we still believed that Cinder was gone and couldn't be responsible, but then we found this image."

She handed a picture to Mercury, who took a few seconds to stare at it before passing it to Emerald. They both looked shocked at what they saw, and when Neo got her turn to see it she understood why. "No... No, that's impossible..." she said, her eyes open wide. Sure enough, Cinder was clearly visible in the frame, but there was someone else with her. A man with a cane, a feathered hat, a white coat, and a cigar. "B-But... But... Roman's dead... I killed him... Emerald, you saw me kill him."

The green-haired girl nodded, "Yeah... And there's no way it was an illusion. You fought and killed him..."

"Why are you showing us all this?" Mercury sceptically asked. "Are you trying to say we had something to do with this?"

Ironwood shook his head, "No, not at all. However, we have a number of questions for all of you. Specifically, we need to know as much as you can tell us about Cinder's plans regarding the Fall Maiden. We can only assume that if Cinder still alive, the Maiden is still her target. I assume you know what I'm talking about?"

"I know a bit about the Maiden, but not much. I thought it was all a fairytale until Cinder actually stole her powers. I don't know how she did it though."

"I don't know much either," Emerald shrugged. "She was always secretive about her plans. We were never told more than we needed to for the time. And after Neo got thrown out and defected, she told the two of us next to nothing."

Mercury nodded, "Pretty much. Without Neo, the original plan fell through. We needed her for the extra illusions, but I couldn't tell you what the end result of the plan was. After Neo left, it almost seemed like Cinder was going for straight up brute force."

"What makes you say that?" Qrow asked. "And if Neo was so essential, why was she kicked out?"

"Cinder's got a pretty bad temper," Neo answered. "That, coupled with me screwing up so badly on the train and setting our prep work back three weeks, just made her snap. She said she wanted me back after she calmed down, but by then I didn't want to go back."

"That's why I say that," Mercury added. "So you think she's still after the Maiden then?"

Ozpin nodded, "Undoubtedly. On the bright side, Amber's condition has somewhat stabilised since the tournament. At first we thought it was because of Cinder's death, but now I can only assume it was natural. It's unlikely that she'll awaken soon, but we'll hold out hope. So far there's been no need to place her powers in our new Maiden."

"Place them in someone new?" Neo asked. "What do you mean? How could you just choose a new Maiden? Who would you even choose?"

"Classified," the general said flatly.

"Don't worry about it," Qrow continued. "For now, everything seems alright. I get that feeling it won't stay that way for long though. I can only imagine how powerful Cinder's gotten if she could survive that blast. If she decides to strike, we'll need to be ready."

"And where do we come into that?" Emerald asked.

"You don't," Professor Goodwitch replied. "At least not for now. There's too little to go on to take action. For now, all we need from you is to keep what we've told you to yourselves, and come to us if you remember anything that might be helpful."

"Or if Cinder tries to contact you," Ironwood added. "And above all, be safe. It's clear she's coming for you as well, so keep your guard up, watch each other's backs, and don't go looking for trouble."

Ozpin nodded again, taking a drink from his mug, "That's all for now. Oh, and Neo, is there any news on Weiss' condition?"

"Hm? Oh, yeah!" Neo said, her face instantly lighting up. "She's finally awake! I did an aura donation, or however you phrase that, and she's back! I was walking her to the room when you called me here."

Glynda smiled, "That's excellent news! Give her our regards, along with the rest of your friends. Have a nice evening."

The three friends nodded and left, saying goodbye to their teachers. They got in the elevator, and none of them said a single word until they reached the ground floor. They were all still in a bit of shock from what they'd been told. Emerald finally cleared her throat as they left the building, "So uh... What now?"

"What do you mean?" Mercury asked. "They said they didn't want us to do anything."

"Yeah, I get that, but can we really listen? If Cinder's still out there then she'll be coming for us. She has to know that we didn't die in the canyon."

Neo shrugged, "Well what do you expect us to do? It's not like we know where she's hiding. If anything, we're probably better off just stay here. Like Ironwood said, we should just lay low for a while. If she's really after us then hunting her is a death wish."

Emerald didn't look enthused about doing nothing, but eventually she sighed and nodded in agreement. The rest of the walk back was pretty quite, and soon they were back at the dorms. Emerald and Mercury went straight into team RWBY's dorm and Neo poked her head in to say hello, but she didn't stay long. After a week in Weiss' hospital room, all she wanted to do was shower and change her clothes. She closed the door and turned to her room, and it happened to be at the same time Penny was leaving it.

"Salutations, team leader!" Penny enthusiastically greeted her when they met up in the middle of the hallway. "It's so nice to see you again! How's Weiss doing? I heard she's awake!"

Neo smiled, "Nice to see you too, and Weiss is alright. She's over in team RWBY's room. Are you going over?"

"No, I need to run to the bathroom for some quick maintenance. I was just chatting with Ruby in our room."

"Oh, alright," Neo replied before the two parted. She went across the hall and opened the door, and got a surprise as she walked in.

"Penny, I've been thinking," Ruby said, not looking up at first to see who had opened the door. "Would you maybe wanna go on a date some- OH HI, NEO!"

"Please, continue," Neo grinned.

Ruby's cheeks turned red to match her hood, "Uh... S-Sorry, I thought you were Penny..."

"No need to be sorry, and OH MY GOD! You like Penny?"

"Well... yeah," Ruby replied with a shy smile. "She's cute, she's funny, she's sweet..."

Neo started to laugh, "She's also a robot. I don't wanna sound rude, but is a relationship even possible with her?"

"So what if she's a robot? I've always liked weapons and guns more than people, at least some people, and... I dunno, it's hard to explain. It's not that I like her because she's a weapon, although I guess that's part of it, but... I just like her, ya know?"

"You're adorable," Neo smiled. "Well I'm in desperate need of a shower, so I'm gonna go take one. Knock twice on the door if Penny says yes."

Ruby continued to blush as Neo grabbed a towel and her pajamas before going into the bathroom. Neo tossed her dirty clothes into a pile and immediately cranked the hot water, not satisfied until the room had basically turned into sauna. She took her time to wash up so that Ruby would have all the time she needed, and because she loved long showers, and gasped in delight when she heard two subtle knocks on the bathroom door before door to the hallway opened and closed.

' _Okay, that might be_ _the cutest thing I've ever seen,_ ' Neo thought with a wide smile. ' _I can't wait to see how this goes._ '

Sure enough, team RWBY's room was a buzz with the news after she finished showering and went back over. In retrospect it probably should've been more obvious to them than it had been, but it was an easy thing to overlook. The rest of the evening was spent chatting, eating pizza, playing games, and just celebrating in general for everything that had happened. It had been a tough week for all of them, and a happy ending to it significant brought up everyone's morale. The night wore on, and they decided to say goodnight once the chain of people yawning seemed to go on in a never ending circle. Neo and Weiss shared a tighter hug than normal, and the teams all went back to their rooms.

' _I never thought I'd say this, but I can't wait to be back in class,_ ' Neo thought a she settled into her bed. ' _I've had enough action and surprises for a long, long time._ '

Unfortunately for her, there was one last unexpected thing in store. She drifted off to sleep, and found herself in an open, white space that seemed to go on forever in every direction. She spun around a few times, trying to figure out where she was, when someone appeared in front of her that she didn't think she'd ever see again.

"Well it's about time," Beo grinned. "I've been trying to talk to you since our big fight."

Neo took an involuntary step back in fear, "B-Beo? What...? What's going on?"

"Oh relax, I'm not mad. If anything, I'm kinda happy with how things worked out. Ya see, after you stabbed me, I got sent to this weird part of our brain that I eventually figured out is our subconscious. Basically, I have access to everything we've ever seen and remembered in our memory. It's freaking awesome! Like, I know a bunch of stuff about our body that you don't since you've only got the conscious part. And I can just sorta hang out in old memories when I get bored."

"Ummm..." Neo said, looking utterly confused. "Okay? I guess that's cool... So if you've been trying to bring me here for months, why did you only do it now?"

Beo shrugged, "I don't know why I couldn't, but on that note, isn't this so much nicer than that black void from before? This feels so free and inviting. But yeah, I only just got through to you now. I have a guess as to what triggered it, and I think you can figure it out too."

"The aura donation?" Neo asked. "But why would that-?"

"Hell if I know, but it did. And that's not the only thing it did, but you'll figure the other part out eventually. I just wanted to say hi and let you know that I'm still here. If you ever hear that little voice in your head giving you an answer or something, it's probably me."

Neo smiled, "Is that how I passed the combat theory final the day after our fight?"

"Bingo!" Beo laughed. "Yeah, I get the feeling that this is gonna be fun. And hey, now we're not as crazy! Hearing me in your head is much more acceptable than us switching back and forth."

"I guess so. Does that mean you don't wanna take control anymore?" Neo asked.

"Nah, too much work. Besides, I like leaving all the pressure on you," Beo replied. "Just remember to take good care and everything. There's more than one of us in this body to look out for."

"Is there really more than one of us though? You know we're still the same person, right?"

Beo smiled and shook her head, "Neo Neo Neo... Well, I'm gonna go and let you get some sleep! See ya later!"

"Wait, what does that-?" Neo began, but was cut off by a blinding flash of light. When she opened her eyes again, she was back in her bed with the morning sunlight shining across her face.

 **If you think this story has hit the ground running already, you're gonna be in for one hell of a surprise. (; Be sure to follow, favourite, and review, and I'll see you guys next time!**

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	4. Unexpected Turns

**Shoutout to Logan, and anyone else struggling with depression. I've been there too, and that's why I got into writing. I'm here to give you all something to help you forget about everything for a while, and I hope I can help you through it. ❤️**

Chapter 4: Unexpected Turns

The first week of class was far more laid back than it usually was. With the number of second year students still recovering, their classes took their time to introduce any big assignments, and combat training started off with a review of fundamentals. By the end of the week most students were back in fighting condition though, and it looked like Monday would get everyone back into the swing of things that they were used to.

That first week seemed off to Neo in a different way to everyone else. There was a lot weighing on her mind after last week, making it hard to focus. Knowing that Cinder was still out there somewhere had her on edge, and the fact that Roman somehow survived their fight was making her question not only herself, but also just what he was capable of. She knew that they were coming for her, and she honestly didn't know what would happen if they met again.

There was a slight comfort to all this with Beo always being there to talk to. Having Beo's voice in the back of her head took a few days to fully adjust to, but by Friday she didn't know how she managed to live without her. Once they found a nice balance of talking back and forth, the results were truly astounding. Beo could tell Neo just about anything she'd ever paid attention to, and was also a second pair of eyes to catch the things she missed on her own. The only trade off was that Beo was never one to hold her tongue if she had an opinion to voice on what was going on outside.

Finally, there was the matter of exactly what was happening to her because of the aura transfer. She was terrified that nothing seemed to have happened yet apart from a little nausea, fatigue, and cramping. She was due to have her period any day now though, so she wrote those symptoms off as it coming on. She tagged along when it was time for Weiss' checkups at the infirmary just to be safe, and the doctors cleared her every time and simply insisted that she was lucky enough to be side effect free. She wanted you believe it, but she was far too paranoid to believe them. That and Beo seemed to know something she didn't.

' _Figure it out yet?_ ' Beo asked Sunday afternoon after lunch. Neo was walking back to the dorms with her teammates and team RWBY, heading for the latter's room. ' _Ooo I really wanna tell you, but I won't._ '

Neo groaned on the inside, ' _Oh my God, either tell me already or stop bringing it up! Besides, the doctor says I'm fine._ '

' _She's wrong,_ ' Beo chuckled. ' _You'll figure it out soon enough. Watching you stress out about it is actually kinda fun._ '

Neo rolled her eyes and shook her head, catching Weiss' attention. "What's wrong?" the heiress asked.

"It's Beo," Neo sighed. "She keeps telling me that there's something wrong with me because of the donation, but she won't tell me what! Who knew having a voice in your head could get so annoying."

Yang laughed, "You're so messed up it's not even funny. But hey, her nagging you is probably better than her taking over."

"That's an understatement. At least now she can only piss me off instead of all of you guys."

Beo huffed, ' _Bite me._ '

"So what's the plan for the afternoon?" Mercury asked. "And when's team JNPR getting back?"

Ruby shrugged, "I think they'll be back tonight. I'm up for going somewhere we could all get some energy out. How about laser tag?"

"Not likely," Blake said, waving one of her crutches. Her aura had healed the broken bones already, but her leg was incredibly weak as a result. She'd be on crutches until at least next weekend. "You guys can go if you want. I'm fine hanging back and video chatting with Sun."

Yang gave her partner a concerned look, "You sure? We can do something else if you'd rather. I'd feel bad leaving you behind."

"She wouldn't be alone," Penny chimed in. "I wouldn't go with you. I can see the spectrum of light the beams are on, and it really messes with me. You guys go have fun though!"

"Awww!" Ruby whined. "But then we can't pair off as couples!"

Mercury looked over, "I wouldn't have a partner if we did couples. Guess that means we're paired up if we go."

"Oh, right. Well then we're all set! And we can be a pretend couple for the afternoon!"

Penny giggled, "I want lots of pictures of that."

"That's alright," Mercury chuckled. "Just laser tag partners is enough for me, thanks. No offense, Ruby, but you're not really my type."

"Who is your type then?" Emerald asked, sounding genuinely curious. "Name the hottest person you've seen since you got here."

Mercury shrugged and answered without hesitation, "Scarlet's pretty hot, but he's back at Haven."

"Oh shut up. I was being serious!"

"Me too," Mercury replied, receiving seven perplexed looks in response. "What? Oh, so nobody bats an eye when everyone here but Blake comes out as gay, but when I do it's suddenly a big deal."

Yang grinned, "Well it seemed a little unlikely with your super edgy attitude. But hey, congrats! I hope you know that Em and I are gonna spend every waking moment from here on out trying to set you up with Scarlet. Wait, do we know for sure that he's gay?"

"Yup," Blake instantly replied. "At least according to Sun he is."

"YES!" Emerald cheered. "We are SO making this happen!"

The beginning of the flight into town was spent bickering about how to casually talk to Scarlet, stalking his Rembook page to make sure he was single, and finally having Blake put Sun on speaker phone to talk to him. Not only was Sun on board, but he was equally as excited as everyone else. Meanwhile, Mercury just sat back and let everything happen for him. That changed when Scarlet came into the call, and then a whole new side of the grey-haired boy emerged.

"Sup guys?" Scarlet asked.

"Mercury's got something he wants to talk to you about," Yang grinned. "Go ahead, Merc."

Mercury cleared his throat as his cheeks turned a light pink, surprising everyone with the fact that he did indeed have emotions other than sarcasm. He looked up at the ceiling and started nervously scratching the back of his head, "I uh... I was wondering if you'd wanna meet up next time we're on break. Maybe lunch or a movie, something that's very obviously a date."

"Hell ya!" Scarlet enthusiastically replied. "Sounds top! Sun, you're going up next weekend to see Blake, right? I'll tag along to visit Merc."

"Sounds good to me," Sun chuckled.

Emerald stood up and cheered, "YES! IT'S A DATE!"

"Sit down, Em," Mercury groaned. "Looking forward to seeing you, Scarlet."

Everyone said goodbye and hung up, and all eyes turned to Mercury. He was still blushing and smiling, trying to hide just how excited he was and failing miserably at it. This was the first time the group had seen him this happy, but it came as even more of a shock to Emerald and Neo. They'd both known him for over a decade and couldn't remember the last time he'd been like this.

' _I'm glad we helped him out with this,_ ' Neo thought with a smile. ' _Scarlet seems like a really cool guy. I'm sure their date will go well._ '

' _That's same look you had when Weiss said yes,_ ' Beo commented, cementing Neo's hopes.

They got off the airship once it docked and made their way over to Lazer Battleground. It was a very large building with multiple indoor laser tag arenas, an arcade that Ruby insisted on visiting afterwards, and a few fast food restaurants. It was pretty empty since it was a Sunday, so the six of them were ready to suit up after they paid to get in. Neo was less than pleased when the staff told her she'd need to wear a children's harness because of her height, but all that meant was higher motivation to get the friends who laughed. Once they'd taken all of their weapons off and stored them in the lockers they were ready to go.

"Okay, quick rundown of the rules," one of the employees said once everyone was ready. "Hits are only registered on the chest or back. Once you're hit, go back to your base to respawn. Your gun won't work until you do, and you're not worth points until you're alive again. Normally we have a no running policy, but we'll lift it since you're all Huntsmen and Huntresses. Any questions?"

Mercury raised his hand, "Is there friendly fire?"

"No, you can't tag teammates."

"Thank God," Ruby chuckled, giving her teammate an amused glance. "Can we use our semblances or is that a bad idea?"

The employee shrugged, "I'm not gonna say no, but you pay for what you break if you do. If there aren't any other questions you guys can head inside and find your bases. Once the horn sound you can start. First team to fifteen points wins. Good luck!"

Neo and Weiss went to the the blue base, Ruby and Mercury to red, and Emerald and Yang to green. Neo took the time before it started to look at the layout of the arena. It was a bit larger than the sparring arena they used on campus, and filled with a ton of ramps up to a second level of walkways, walks, huge fake boulders, and plenty of other obstacles. The lights were fairly dim and cast a blue light across the open space. Neo grinned and look over at Weiss, "I'm gonna have fun with illusions and teleporting in here."

"And I with glyphs," Weiss chuckled. "Emerald is probably thinking the same way as you though. Watch out for hallucinations."

The horn suddenly sounded, and the two girls took off to find some good cover. They could hear footsteps on the walkway overhead and turned to the ramp coming down to get however it was as they came out. The noise stopped once the person should've came into view though. The girls shared a look, but then Neo realised what it was and grabbed Weiss to teleport them a few feet away. They looked back over to see Emerald shooting at the illusion left behind, and tagged her to score the first point of the game.

"Damn it!" the green-haired girl cursed after realising she'd been counter tricked. "I'll be coming for you, Neo."

"Good," Neo called after her as she ran off to respawn. "Weiss, let's move toward Ruby's base."

The heiress nodded and they ran ahead, keeping their eyes open for people hiding behind cover. Everything seemed clear until a red ball sped past them, and Weiss wasn't able to react in time before Ruby tagged her. Neo jumped back and grabbed onto the path above them and pulled herself up to get out of the line of fire, only to find Mercury waiting for her. She tried to pull her gun up, but Mercury shot her before she could.

"Oh don't look so smug," Neo grumbled at him on her way back to her base.

Five minutes went by, and the six of them were very surprised at how taxing this was. They were all used to a lot of running and acrobatics, but something about this had them using a lot more energy than they were expecting. Neo was sweating and panting pretty hard already, and the round was only half over. She and Weiss stood at seven points, Ruby and Mercury at five, and Emerald and Yang were in the lead with nine.

Neo and Weiss had gotten separated, and now Neo was crouching along the upper walkway in search of anyone. She poked her head up and spied Weiss below her, but also alerted Yang to where she was. The blonde leapt up and started firing wildly, so Neo jumped off and did a shoulder roll to break her fall. She came out of the roll and fell to her hands and knees from a sudden and violent feeling of nausea came over her.

Weiss saw all of this happen and immediately ran to Neo's side, "Neo? Are alright? Guys, stop! Stop!"

The concern in her voice was clear, and everyone rushed over to see what was wrong. Neo hadn't moved, hanging her head down between her shoulders with her eyes closed. The room was spinning, and even staying perfectly still wasn't helping. She tried to hold it in as long as she could but it was just too much. She opened her eyes and tried to take a deep breath, and instead threw up all over the floor. The lights came on then, and some of the employees came in to help get her to the bathroom while she apologised profusely for the mess she'd made.

Weiss guided her into one of the stalls where she threw up twice more, and proceeded to just lay down on the bathroom floor. Looking for her the room had just been cleaned. She stayed there for a minute, panting a bit while the rest of her friends came inside, expect for Mercury. He had to wait outside.

"Are you alright?" Ruby asked, looking extremely concerned.

Neo nodded, "Y-Yeah. Holy fuck, I can't think of the last time I've gotten this sick."

"We should take you home," Weiss said, crouching down and putting her hand on Neo's forehead. "You don't feel warm. Did you eat something that might've gotten you sick?"

"I don't think so, I think it was the flips I did. I don't usually get this sick on my period, but I think that's what it is. I'm due for it anyway."

"When's it supposed to start?" Yang asked.

Neo gingerly sat up gathered herself for a few seconds. She still felt pretty ill, but it was starting to pass. She looked over at Yang and shrugged, "I started my white row two days ago. Why?"

"Just asking. If I'm a day or two late I start to get kinda sick from this stuff too."

"I'm the same way," Emerald added. "Think you're ready to get up? It'd probably be best to get you home and in bed. Yang and I can stop on the way back and get you something to help calm your stomach."

Neo smiled, "Thanks. I should be fine though, it's mostly passed. Either way I agree with going home. I need at least three showers after laying on this floor."

' _Still haven't figured it out yet?_ ' Beo asked again on the airship ride back. Neo tried to ignore her this time, just staring ahead and watching the clouds, but Beo didn't give up that easily. ' _C'mon, at least take a guess! We can make a game out of it._ '

Neo took a deep, calming breath, ' _Fine, if it'll make you shut up already. Is it the flu?_ '

' _Not even close! The flu would be a lot easier on you though._ '

' _Then I give up,_ ' Neo replied. ' _I'm really not in the mood for this. If you're not gonna tell me then please just stop._ '

Beo sighed, ' _You're no fun!_ '

Neo didn't do much for the rest of the day expect stay in bed. She insisted that she was fine and felt better, but none of her friends were going to listen. They ended up ordering dinner and hung out in team NEMP's room for the evening to make it easier on everyone. Neo didn't eat much since she was having a hard time keeping anything down, but otherwise she had fun.

Team JNPR got back from their quick weekend away, and the night was spent chatting and playing games. Mercury's date with Scarlet was a pretty big topic of discussion, especially since team JNPR hadn't been aware of it. It went on for a while until it was time you get to sleep, much to Mercury's relief.

Neo woke up the next morning feeling a hundred times better than she had, and decided that she was good to go to class. Weiss fought her on it, but Neo managed to convince her that she was alright. That didn't stop the heiress from keeping a close eye on her all morning and waiting for any and every opportunity to try to get her back in bed. Neo made it through their first two lectures without much issue though, and after lunch it was time for a part of class that they were all excited about. Combat training was resuming normal sparring matches.

"Welcome back, everyone," Professor Goodwitch greeted everyone after the bell had rung. They were in the same sparring arena as last year, and the anticipation in the room to get back to fighting as clear. "As you all know, we'll be doing one on one matches today. I went ahead and assigned everyone a partner I think will be appropriate, and randomised the order you'll all be going in. Let's get started with... Pyrrha Nikos versus Neopolitan."

"Be careful," Weiss said as Neo stood up. "If you feel sick, just concede so you don't hurt yourself."

Neo rolled her eyes, "Whatever you say." She and Pyrrha walked down onto the field and stood at opposite ends, waiting for the signal to start.

' _You sure you don't wanna take over?_ ' Neo asked.

' _Nope, all you,_ ' Beo replied. ' _I'll be here to help you out though._ '

"Both fighters ready?" Glynda asked once she'd stepped out of the way. "Excellent. Ready... Fight!"

Pyrrha charged in immediately and started with a fairly straightforward set of slashed at Neo. They were both pretty familiar with each other's fighting styles with how many times the two had sparred in the past, so this would almost certainly be decided on who made the biggest mistake that could be easily capitalised on. Neo decided not to retaliate at first and instead gracefully dodged and sidestepped the incoming attacks while she waited for an opening. The only problem was that she was still feeling a little fuzzy from being sick, so it was hard to concentrate on avoiding and searching at the same time.

' _Left leg... Now!_ ' Beo commanded, and Neo obeyed without a second thought. She hooked the handle of her umbrella around Pyrrha's heel and tripped her, making Pyrrha roll back and put some distance between them. ' _There we go! Just listen to me and we'll be fine._ '

Neo nodded to herself and ran over to continue the fight. Now with Beo there to handle the analytical and predictive side of the fight, she was able to devote her full concentration to parrying and throwing in quick counter attacks until Beo gave her the signal to attack. It worked for a while, but Neo's stomach turned out to have other plans on how the fight would go.

Neo did a backflip to avoid Pyrrha's shield as it was thrown at her, then jumped off of it on its return path to get herself high into the air. She defected the shield off her umbrella as it thrown at her again and did three more flips on her way back down. Normally she could do plenty more rotations than that, but not this time. A powerful wave of nausea crashed through her as she spotted the ground and went to to plant her feet. She collapsed backwards when she landed and got up in her hands and knees, then got sick on the ground the same way she had during laser tag.

"Hold, hold!" Professor Goodwitch called out to Pyrrha as she came over to Neo's side. "Neo, are you alright?"

"She's been sick, but didn't want to stay home," Pyrrha answered for her friend. "She threw up the other day when we all went out to play laser tag."

Neo nodded, still propping herself up on one arm while the other clutched her stomach, "I'm sorry... I thought I was okay to come."

"No need to apologise," Glynda replied, helping Neo to her feet. "You should get some rest though. Miss Nikos, would you mind walking her back to the dorms? I'll need a moment here to get someone to clean the ring."

Pyrrha agreed and started asking alongside Neo out of the arena. Neo turned to the rest of their friends in the stands and gave a thumbs up, giving them a bit of relief that she was okay. She got back to her room and went straight to the bathroom to brush her teeth and rinse her mouth out, then flopped into bed as Pyrrha returned to class. She fell asleep for some unknown amount of time, and woke up to the sound of the door to the room opening. She lazily rolled over to see who it was, and got a smile on her face when she saw it was Weiss.

"Hey," the heiress somewhat flatly greeted her. "I got you some salted crackers and Ginger Ale to help your stomach."

Neo's smile widened, "Thank you. So how'd class go?"

"Fine," Weiss sighed. She walked over and handed Neo the bag of food and before going over to the window. She didn't seem to be looking at anything in particular, just blankly staring outside.

"Is everything okay? I know that I'm sick, but I don't I'm contagious enough to warrant keeping your distance. Besides, we kissed this morning, so you've got whatever I've got."

The heiress shook her head and turned her gaze down to the floor, looking almost ready to cry, "I need to talk to you about something."

"What's wrong?" Neo asked, sitting up with a look of concern. "Weiss?"

"It's about us... and our engagement... It's been on my mind a lot since the initiation incident. I didn't really want to bring it up now since you've been sick, but I can't hold it in much longer. First of all, I want you to know that I care about you so, so much. I love you more than I ever thought possible, and... it really scares me. The fact that I agreed to marry you after only two months together... I feel like it was all because of the circumstances, and that I wouldn't have said yes otherwise. I'm starting to think that I'm not ready..."

Neo looked devastated, "A-Are...? Are you calling off the engagement? You're not-?"

"I'm not breaking up with you," Weiss firmly stated. She sat down on Neo's bed and brought her into a hug, squeezing tightly. "That's not what I'm saying. I just feel like we've moved too quickly. I need to know, would you have proposed if you hadn't thought we were going to die?"

"Well... No," Neo replied, shaking her head. " You're right, it had a lot to do with what was happening. But that wasn't the only reason. I do love you, enough to get married one day."

"I feel the same way, but we're both clearly thinking about it in future tense, not present. And I'm not saying I want to call of the engagement, I just wish it would've happened at a different time."

Neo smiled, starting to understand what Weiss wanted, "Well, maybe we could take a step back and let it happen again later. We could say these rings are something else instead."

"What do you mean?" Weiss asked.

"What if instead of engagement rings, we made them promise rings? We'd go back to being girlfriends, so I guess technically ending the engagement, but still having the promise that we'll get married someday. Then, once we're both ready, one of us can propose when we're not about to die."

"I don't think there's a technicality there," Weiss chuckled. "It'd definitely be calling off the engagement, but I think that's a really good idea. Are you sure you're okay with all this?"

Neo nodded, "Of course." She reached out and slid Weiss' ring off, then took her own and handed it over. "I hereby call off our previous engagement, or whatever you say to do that. Now, Weiss Schnee, will you take this ring as a promise to stay together faithfully until we're ready to take the next step?"

"I will," the heiress smiled. "Will you take this ring to do the same?"

"I will," Neo smiled back. They put the rings back on and shared another hug and a long kiss.

Weiss' eyes grew wide and she immediately jumped off the bed, "Shit! I shouldn't be kissing you! You had better not get me sick too!"

"Oh relax, you'll be fine. Didn't you hear what I said when you got here? We already kissed this morning. Now go, get to class. I'm gonna get some sleep and hopefully feel well enough to join everyone for dinner."

Weiss smiled and gave Neo one more hug before heading back out. Neo lay back into her pillows and let out a deep sigh, not entirely sure how to feel right now.

' _Well that was unexpected,_ ' Beo said in surprise.

Neo nodded, ' _You can say that again. What're your thoughts on it? You already heard mine._ '

' _I think it's gonna make things a little harder in the future, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. I think it's fair to wanna take a step back and have a semi-normal relationship._ '

' _Why would it be hard?_ ' Neo asked. ' _We can get re-engaged at any point once we're both ready. What would change to make it hard?_ '

Beo chuckled, ' _You'll figure it out pretty soon. Maybe next chapter or so._ '

' _Next chapter? What the fuck are you talking about?_ '

' _Nothing, nothing,_ ' Beo laughed. ' _Talk to ya later, hun._ '

Neo rolled her eyes and readjusted herself under the covers, and fell back asleep within a few minutes. She woke up to a violent rumbling in her stomach, and looked at the clock to see that it was almost six o'clock.

' _Okay, I need to get some food,_ ' she thought as she jumped out of bed and changed into sweatpants and a tank top. ' _Everyone should still be in the dining hall, so I'll just show up and surprise them._ '

She grabbed her purse and ran out of the room with the savage growling in her stomach dictating her speed. She arrived at the dining hall in record time and went to work loading her tray with anything and everything that looked good to her, and even a couple combinations of things that only made sense in her head. She played it off nonchalantly when she sat down with all of her friends, but their immediate fascination was with her appetite.

"Holy crap, Neo," Jaune said in amazement. "I haven't seen you eat this much since I met you."

Neo smiled, "And just like then, I haven't eaten in two days. Although this time it's from being sick instead of homeless in the streets."

"Yeah, but everything you had on your tray that day was pretty normal. What you've got now is... odd to say the least. Wait, are those pickles in your ice cream?"

Yang smirked, "Well I'm just glad you're feeling better. Although, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you were pregnant with the way you're eating."

"Yup, you figured it out," Neo sarcastically replied. "Weiss knocked me up. She wears that combat skirt to hide her penis."

Weiss huffed, "Hey! Where did that come from?"

"Sorry, I couldn't resist. I love you! Please don't leave me!"

"On that note, can help me understand the thing with your engagement?" Yang asked. She wasn't the only one thinking it, but nobody else really wanted to bring it up in case it was a sensitive topic. "Weiss told us about it, but I'm still a little confused. Sorry to bring it up if it's not a great topic."

Neo shrugged, "Nah, you're fine. Weiss and I decided to make these be promise rings instead of engagement rings. So we're back to girlfriends, not fiancees."

"And you're okay that?" Pyrrha asked. "Not that you shouldn't be, I just want to make sure you're both alright."

"Of course. I'll be the first to admit that I proposed when I did cuz I was sure we were gonna die. It was definitely rushed, so we're just taking a step back. Nothing's changed except for losing the 'But I'm her fiancee!' card. I'll wait to propose again until we're closer to graduating, and make it a hell of a lot more romantic. Or Weiss can if she beats me to it. And yes, you're all still bridesmaids and bridesmen."

"YES!" Nora exclaimed, throwing her arms up. "Just so you know, we're not gonna stop planning your wedding."

All the talk about relationships and weddings brought a lot of smiles across the table. There was only one person who didn't seem excited by it, and Ruby picked up on it pretty quickly. "Everything okay, Penny?" the caped girl asked. "You look kinda down."

Penny sighed, "Not really. Ruby, can I talk to you about our relationship?"

"Of course!" Ruby enthusiastically answered, but then realised it wasn't in a way that she should be excited about.

"I've been thinking about what exactly there is to gain out is a romantic relationship between us. As much as we both like the idea, there's a huge problem with it... I'm an artificial being, and I don't know if I have the capacity to have the sort of feelings that are associated with this. I don't know if I can really feel love or attraction, and-"

"Penny, look at me," Ruby interrupted, and Penny did as she was told. "I want you to tell me what goes through your head when you look at me. Are you attracted to me?"

"Well... yes," Penny replied. "I think you're very pretty, and smart, and funny, but what if these aren't real feelings? What if it's just my programming? I know I can project and aura, but that doesn't mean I can think and feel like you do. I'm not a real girl..."

Ruby smiled, "You're real to me. I don't care if you're a human, a Faunus, a robot, an alien, or whatever! I like you for you. And who's to say your feelings are any different than mine? Just because you're made of metal and I'm made of squishy red stuff doesn't mean we can't both have feelings for each other."

Penny couldn't muster a response other than to pull Ruby into a tight hug. She buried her head into the girl's shoulder as if she were about to cry, "Thank you, Ruby. I don't know what I'd do without you."

"Awww!" came simultaneously from everyone else at the table as they watched the display.

"You're real to all of us," Neo added. "We'll be here for you like we would be for anyone else, right guys?"

Everyone at the table nodded except for Emerald. Not out of disagreement, instead her eyes were fixed on her scroll with a look of pure fear.

Mercury tapped her on the shoulder, "Em? You okay?"

"N-no..." the green-haired girl stammered, turning her scroll to let everyone see the message on it. "It's... It's from Cinder..."

 **Did Beo just break the fourth wall to give some foreshadowing? Yup! Did I do it because I'm really excited about the new Dreadpool movie? Also yes! xD Hope you guys liked the chapter, and I'll see you all next time! Also, only one person has technically guessed correctly as to what Neo's side effect is. If you'd like, leave your guess in a review or a PM! I love reading them. (:**

 **If you'd like to help support me, there's a donation link and a link to my page on my profile. Your support is helping me toward my goal of writing full time. (: Thank you to my amazing Patrons:**

 **Mike Zembruski**

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 **You're the best! ❤️**


	5. An Uncertain Future

**For those of you who don't know, today marks** **one year since Monty's passing. I've done my best this past year to unleash my creativity to its fullest, to put forth everything I can and work toward making things that everyone will enjoy and want to see. I've learned that having the Monty-like regime of devoting all of your energy to doing something at all times is a massive undertaking, and I've come nowhere close to succeeding, but I've still worked my hardest to always be thinking, always be watching, always planning what I can do next and how to make it the best that I can. Some day, I hope that the things I make can inspire people on the same level and scale of RWBY and RvB, but for now, I'm happy to keep working my way up. (: That's enough about me, so I'll shut up and let you guys get to the chapter. Rest easy, Monty. I hope I can make you proud one day.**

Chapter 5: An Uncertain Future

"Interesting..." Professor Ozpin said before taking another swig of his coffee. Neo, Emerald, and Mercury had just run to his office and showed him Cinder's message. It only a few sentences, but basically it was saying she wanted to arrange a meeting. "What do you make of it, James?"

The general held a steady face, "I think it's a trap. If she's been hiding for this long, then I highly doubt she'd expose herself so blatantly."

"We can find out if we call like she asked," Mercury casually interjected. "As long as you two don't say anything she'll probably think we're alone."

"Why would she trust us?" Emerald asked.

"She doesn't trust you, she trusts me because I didn't betray her. That's why she only sent the message to me. Which reminds me, why were you on my scroll in the first place?"

Emerald gave an innocent shrug, "I wanted to see what you had said to Scarlet."

"This can wait until we're finished here," Ironwood cut in, not amused by their lack of seriousness. "Mercury, call her and put it on speakerphone. Everyone else needs to stay quiet."

Mercury nodded and tapped the call icon, then set the phone down on Ozpin's desk while it rang. "Well well, hello there," Cinder's voice came after she picked up. "It's been a while, hasn't it?"

"Yeah, you could say that," Mercury replied.

"Why am I on speaker? Are you alone right now?"

He grinned and went with the first lie that came to mind, "Yeah, I'm alone. I was jerkin' off when I got your message." Everyone in the room shot him an angry and disgusted glare, but in all honesty it wasn't a terrible lie. It definitely would convince her that there's nobody else around.

"Lovely..." Cinder flatly replied. "I'll keep this brief since I'm sure there are things going on I don't what to know about happening while I'm talking. Roman and I have been working on a new plan, but we've got a little snag with the number of people we need to continue. We've brought two new associates on board the same way I found you and Emerald, so I thought I'd offer you the third spot to replace Neo. How're those two doing, anyway?"

"They're doin' fine. I doubt they're about to come back if that's what you're wondering. And I'll definitely give it some thought. Where do I find you if I say yes?"

Cinder chuckled, "If? Oh Mercury, I've always loved your sarcasm, but you almost had me worried there. Like I said before, I'll be sending you a text this weekend with when and where you'll be going. I won't actually be there, but I'll have one of my associates nearby to give you further instructions. Just a precaution to make sure you aren't followed. I'm sure you understand."

"Sounds good to me," Mercury replied, then said goodbye and hung up. "Huh, that was easy. I'll be honest, I don't think it's a trap. I can't imagine why she'd only target me for something like that if she thinks I'm still on her side."

Ozpin nodded, "I have to agree. That leaves us with what to do about this meeting. While I'd love to love to send you in and have you act as a spy, I think it would be far too dangerous. She would kill you in a heartbeat if she found out that you had turned as well."

"We could send someone else first," Neo suggested. "Not to actually meet her, but to just hang out where she says to meet. Whoever she's sending might ask them to leave if they don't know them, and then we know who they are."

"We'll take it under consideration," Ironwood replied. "You're dismissed now. Ozpin and I will let you know when we need you again."

The three teammates nodded and left, leaving Ozpin's office in silence just like the last time. This time it was because they were contemplating what Cinder could be after this time. Mercury's thoughts were a little different though. "Do you guys ever wonder what it'd be like if we hadn't left?" he asked while they walked.

Neo and Emerald both gave him a quizzical look, not sure exactly what he meant by it. Emerald shrugged, not sure how else to respond, "No? Where did that come from?"

"That call just reminded me of it. Sometimes I wonder what could be different. What if we had stayed, ya know? You guys don't think about that stuff?"

"Not really," Neo sceptically replied. "Merc... are you thinking about actually going back?"

He shook his head, "Of course not. Even if I'm always joking about it, I really do like being at school here. Being the bad guy was fun and all, but this is better than anything Cinder ever promised. I was asking about hypotheticals 'cuz I think about 'em sometimes. What if you hadn't messed up on the train? What if Emerald and just killed you? What if I had won our fight in the hall?"

"That all sounds like you wishing things had gone Cinder's way," Emerald replied, somewhat angrily.

"I wasn't done," Mercury shot back at his partner. "I think about what I could've done differently too. I could've helped you but instead I fought you. When I think about would've happened if I'd won... It makes me sick sometimes to remember the people I've killed without a second thought, and that I almost did the same to my closest friends. I feel like a monster sometimes..."

Neo put her arm around Mercury and looked up with a reassuring smile, "You're not a monster. Yes, you've done some terrible things, but all three of us have. Think about what you've done since then. You were ready to die so that Em and I could live. That doesn't sound like a monster to me."

"She's right," Emerald added. "The old you would never be selfless for anything. The old you probably wouldn't blush like a four-year-old girl from talking to Scarlet either."

Mercury rolled his eyes, "Thanks. Believe it or not, I do have feelings. So hey, you said you stole my scroll to read my chat with Scarlet, right? How far back did you read?"

"Not very. Cinder's text came through right after I figured out your password. And seriously? You've already changed it to his name? Are you twelve?"

"Damn," he smirked. "If you'd gone up a little higher you would've seen the good stuff. Twelve did come up, but we were talking about something else."

Emerald's hand flew to cover her mouth while her face changed colour to match her hair, "New topic! New topic!"

The next few days finally saw some normalcy return to the school. The last few injured students were finally released from the hospital, and thankfully it appeared that there wouldn't be any lasting damage from the initiation disaster. Blake didn't need her crutches anymore and was able to get back to sparring, Sky was on his way to making a full recovery, and Weiss' shoulder was holding up perfectly. The doctors had all but cleared Weiss of any permanent brain damage, but she still had one last appointment on Friday afternoon to make sure.

Meanwhile, Neo's strange sickness wasn't showing any signs of going away. If anything it was just getting worse, but she still refused to have herself looked at. She was insistent on it being part of her late period, that excuse had flown out the window when she saw blood on Thursday. Weiss eventually managed to talk her into coming along on her checkup to talk to a doctor about it, so the two of them went together to the heiress' appointment. They checked in almost immediately and sat down in the doctor's office to wait for them.

Neo huffed and crossed her arms once they had gotten comfortable, "I'm telling you, I'm fine. It's probably-"

"Oh hush," Weiss interrupted, rolling her eyes. "You're already here, so suck it up and ask the doctor. If you're so sure it's nothing, then they won't have to do anything about it. And if I'm- No, wait, scratch that. WHEN I'm right, they can get you on whatever meds they'll need to make you feel better."

Neo grumbled a few curses under her breath, but there was no use in arguing since she knew she wouldn't win. After a minute or so there was a knock on the door and the doctor came inside. It wasn't Jade though, instead a middle-aged male doctor walked in. Neo didn't recognise him, but he seemed like a nice person from the gentle smile he wore.

"Hello," he greeted them. "I'm Doctor Green, but you can just call me John. Are you ready to get your final checkup over with, Miss Schnee?"

Weiss gleefully nodded, "You have no idea."

The appointment didn't take very long, just a few check tests and examinations to make sure her shoulder was properly healing. Her range of motion was perfect, her strength matched her other arm, and there was no residual soreness in the area. She passed all of the mental checks as well to finish off a perfect score on the doctor's report. Satisfied, John decided she was good to go. He finished updating her charts on the computer and turned to see if she had anything to add before he closed them. "Do you have any other questions for me, Weiss?" he asked.

"Nope," the heiress smiled. "Oh, wait. Neo, didn't you want to ask about how you've been feeling while we're here?"

Neo glared at her girlfriend and shrugged, "You want me to more than I do, but yeah, sure. Do you mind, Doc?"

"Of course not," John chuckled. "What seems to be the problem?"

"Um, let's see... I've been getting really nauseous lately from things that don't usually make me sick. I've been really tired too, and having a lot more cramps than normal. Is suddenly getting PMS a thing if you haven't had it before?"

"It's possible," the doctor replied, but that didn't seem to be what he was thinking. "I just have a few quick questions. When was your last menstrual cycle? Have you experienced any breast soreness or frequent urination?"

Neo shrugged, "It started yesterday. It's really light though, just spotting so far. It was also, like, five or six days late. Could that be why I've been so off? And yes to the other two, just a little bit though."

"I'd say that's pretty unlikely. Are you sexually active? And if so, do you use protection?"

"Uh... yeah?" Neo said as more of a question than an answer. "I am, but we don't use protection. Why?"

"How is that relevant?" Weiss asked, embarrassed that it had come up.

The doctor started to smile, "All of this sounds like morning sickness to me. Have you taken a pregnancy test? If you're having unprotected sex, then I'd say it's very likely that you may be pregnant."

Neo and Weiss both gave him a wildly confused look, then turned to each other and burst into laughter. Weiss shook her head, "She meant that we don't use protection, as in the two of us are sexually active. Two girls."

"I've never had sex with a guy," Neo added, laughing so hard she needed to wipe a tear from her eye.

John gave them a very puzzled look and left to bring in another doctor for a second opinion. Neo and Weiss were both happy to see a familiar face yet again from Doctor Jade. John went through everything the girls had told him, and after some input from them she asked him to leave so that they could talk in private.

"So he's nuts, right?" Neo asked.

Jade didn't respond at first, trying to find the right way to phrase what she wanted to say. "Neo, do you remember what I told you about the side effects of aura donation? How unpredictable and crazy they can be? People have gotten pregnant before as a result. I don't recall any cases of it being a same sex couple before, but it's certainly possible. I think you should take a pregnancy test."

Weiss' mouth dropped open, and she and Neo exchanged a nervous glance. Jade left to get a test stick, then led her and Neo to the bathroom. "Good luck," the heiress smiled, not sure what else to say.

Neo just nodded and closed the door. She braced herself against the wall for a moment to let everything sink in before sitting down on the toilet and taking the test. Once she finished she washed her hands and put the lid down to make a seat. She sat back down and did her best to breath normally while she waited.

' _One line is a no, two is a yes,_ ' Neo read off the back of the test. ' _Here's hoping for one..._ '

Beo started to giggle, ' _I could just give you the answer if you don't wanna wait. Although, I guess there's no fun in-_ '

' _I AM NOT IN THE MOOD FOR GAMES, BEO!_ ' Neo screamed in her head. ' _HAVE YOU KNOWN THIS WHOLE TIME AND KEPT IT FROM ME? I SWEAR TO GOD, I WILL COME IN THERE AND RIP YOU OUT! AM I-?_ '

The test suddenly beeped, and Neo's eyes snapped down to look at the tiny display. Her hands started shaking when she saw the number of lines. Somehow, she already knew that's what the test was going to say, but she still couldn't believe it.

' _Yeah, you are,_ ' Beo warmly replied, sounding uncharacteristically happy. ' _We are. Neo, we're pregnant with Weiss' children._ '

' _Ch-Children?_ ' Neo stammered, her mind racing so much that even her thoughts were choppy.

' _Fraternal twins,_ ' Beo replied, elated to say it. ' _It's hard to explain how I know, but just trust me._ '

Before they could say any more, Weiss' hesitant voice came from outside, "Neo? Are you okay? What does it say?"

Neo took a deep breath and stood up, then slowly walked to the door and opened it. Weiss and Jade were waiting for her on the other side, eager to see the results. Her face was somewhere between happy and horrified as she stepped out, which could only mean one thing.

Jade covered her mouth with her hand, "Oh my God..."

"Weiss..." Neo said in almost a whisper, taking the heiress' shaky hands. The level of excitement in her voice rose as she went on, "I-I'm pregnant... with your children... Weiss, you're gonna be a mom! We both are!"

She and Weiss shared a few different emotions in that moment. First was shock, which quickly turned into them both looking terrified at the reality of what this meant. A lot was going to change, especially for Neo, but that fear was soon overshadowed by a huge wave of joy that swept through them.

The doctor smiled, "She's right, they're biologically yours. Wait, they? How do you know that?"

"Beo told me," Neo replied, not breaking eye contact with Weiss. "She can tell a lot of things about my body."

"I-I don't know what to say," the heiress stuttered. She looked like she was on the verge of passing out, probably because she was.

Neo started giggling, "I guess we should go break the news to everyone. How do you think your dad is gonna react? Or your mom?"

"Let's not ruin a perfectly good moment," Weiss replied, shivering at the thought of her parents' reactions. "But yes, we should go tell everyone. Oh my God, I'm still shaking. This is... I don't even know where to begin."

"I do," Neo smiled, then rushed in for a long kiss. "No matter what, we're in this together. Fighting Grimm is way scarier than having kids, right?"

They left the doctor's office and had a rather interesting walk back to the dorms. They were both fairly quiet, but they also walked with a bit of a spring in their step and held hands the entire way. Even if they were terrified about the impact this would have, there was something about this news that had them sitting on cloud nine. It wouldn't last, but for now the high of knowing they were responsible for two new lives was enough to keep somewhat goofy smiles on their cheeks.

"Ready?" Neo asked once they arrived back on their floor.

Their first stop was team RWBY's room since it was where everyone seemed to gather. Weiss took a moment to properly compose herself, then nodded and reached for the handle. They opened the door and found team RWBY, JNPR, and NEMP inside. They were all spread around the room, but once they saw Weiss and Neo they gathered in the center of the room to hear how the appointment had gone.

"So what'd they say?" Emerald asked, not seeing any tells in either girl's face.

Weiss exchanged a sheepish smile with Neo, "Well, uh... Neo and I have an announcement."

A few confused looks went around the room. Mercury cocked his head to the side, "Okay...? Well I'm guessing it's not that you're dying or you wouldn't be so smiley. Did your spider bite give you superpowers or something?"

"THAT WOULD BE SO COOL!" Nora exclaimed. "Is that it?"

Yang snickered and turned to Blake, "Twenty Lien says Neo's pregnant."

"Don't be an idiot," the Faunus replied, shaking her head.

"Actually..." Neo said shyly, making all heads snap to look at her. "Yang's right. Remember how aura donations can make crazy stuff happen? Well... I'm pregnant. Beo says it's twins, both biologically mine and Weiss'."

The room went completely silent. The looks of shock and amazement were almost comical to Neo, but she couldn't blame them. She knew how big of an announcement this was, and just how much it was going to change things. It stayed quiet for a while with nobody knowing what to say. Finally, someone uttered what they were all thinking.

"Holy shit..." Jaune mumbled, bringing everyone out of their trance-like state of wonder.

Yang threw her arms up in triumph, "I CALLED IT! I FUCKING CALLED IT! NOBODY EATS PICKLED ICE CREAM IF THEY'RE NOT PREGNANT! AHHHH! CONGRATULATIONS!" The silence turned into roaring laughter at her outburst, and with that, the slew of questions could begin.

"That's unbelievable," Pyrrha said, still trying to comprehend it. "What're you going to do now?"

Neo shrugged, "I guess we'll just wait and see how it all goes. I have every intention of keeping them though."

"You'd better!" Emerald chuckled. "I get to be an aunt!"

"Uncle Mercury has a nice ring to it too," the silver-haired boy added.

Ruby smiled and looked back and forth between everyone else, "Okay, we need to start planning a baby shower! STAT!"

"Don't those usually wait until a little later?" Weiss asked.

"I don't think there's a set time. I guess we could just start planning and wait to have the actual party until she's showing or something."

Yang started cracking up, "Oh my God, can you imagine what she'll look like in nine months? Her belly will be bigger than the rest of her!"

The rest of the afternoon was filled with the buzz of excitement from the good news. Weiss wasn't a fan of all the attention she was getting, but even so it was still enjoyable for her and Neo. There were a lot of questions about what they were thinking about in terms of names, if they were getting re-engaged, what they were planning on doing about school, and neither girl had a real answer to any of them. Neo could see that Weiss wasn't handling all of this well, and had a feeling they were going to have a talk about it later.

Afternoon turned to evening, and the craziness finally died down as everyone went back to their plans for the night. Ruby and Penny were having a double date with Yang and Emerald, Blake and Mercury were going to the library to video chat with Sun and Scarlet respectively, and team JNPR had decided on having a quiet night in. Neo and Weiss hung out with JNPR for dinner since they didn't have other plans, and eventually ended up in team NEMP's room to chill until everyone else got back.

"So whatcha wanna do?" Neo asked. "We can watch something on Remflix, we can play a game, we can have sex, we can go for dessert. Take your pick!"

"Whatever," Weiss coldly replied. She was standing by the window, looking down at the carpet in the centre of the room.

Neo frowned, "Weiss? Are you okay?" She stood up from the edge of her bed and took a few steps forward, reaching out to hold the heiress' hand.

"No, I'm not!" Weiss yelled, swatting Neo's hand away. She'd been trying her best not to freak out until now, but she couldn't hold it in any longer. "I'm not ready to be a mom! I'm not ready to have kids! For God's sake, we're still in school! Do you honestly think we can handle having kids right now?"

"Well..." Neo trailed off without having a real answer to give. "I mean... I guess not, but we can figure it out together. Right...?"

"Neo, we just called off our engagement because we needed to take a step back. How do you expect me to react when-?"

"No, it was YOUR idea to call off the engagement," Neo interrupted, the frustration showing in her voice. "I went along with it, and I was okay to leave it at that until a better time, but don't act like I initiated at all. I get it, okay? Maybe we did rush things at first, but that doesn't really matter now. There is absolutely zero chance of me having an abortion, so we can't just call off having kids. And no, I'm still not putting them up for adoption. I'm keeping them whether we're ready or not."

Weiss shrunk back as Neo's words cut into her like a knife. She knew how much that decision had affected her, even if she didn't show it. The heiress put her head in her hands, "I would never force you to give them up, but... I just don't understand how you can be so calm about this! Aren't you afraid of what this means for us? You wouldn't consider adoption at all?"

"OF COURSE I'M AFRAID!" Neo exclaimed, finally losing her cool. "You've been talking about YOU not being ready, but have you thought about what this means for ME? I'm probably gonna have to drop out of Beacon! I can't fight with two kids kicking around inside me! Am I ready to be a mom? No! But that doesn't mean I'm not gonna play the hand I've been given. Weiss, these kids are half you and half me, and that's something no other gay couple in the world can say. We will never have another opportunity like this in our life. Would you really give that up?"

"I-I... I don't know..." Weiss said through tearful eyes. "I'm sorry... I need to think about all of this. I'm sorry..."

Weiss ran out of the room as she started crying and slammed the door behind her. It didn't seem like she slammed it intentionally, but that didn't really matter. Neo was stunned, still staring where Weiss had been standing. She took a step back and sat on the edge of her bed, and started sobbing. Everything she'd been trying to hold back was coming up now as tears poured down her face.

Beo sighed, ' _It's not her fault. This is a lot to handle._ '

' _l know..._ ' Neo dismally replied. ' _I just wish... I don't even know what I'm wishing for. Something that would help... Anything..._ '

She heard the doorknob creak and looked up in the hopes that it was Weiss, but it wasn't. "Is everything okay?" Ruby shyly asked as she and Penny poked their heads inside.

Neo shook her head, still crying, "N-No... Weiss ran off... Sh-She isn't handling this v-very well..."

"Shh, it's alright," Ruby said softly, sitting down beside Neo. She pulled her into a tight hug as Penny sat, who also joined in on the embrace. "We're all here for you. I know it's scary, and I know it's gonna be tough, you can get through this. You're a Huntress."

Penny smiled, "She's right. And if there's anything we can do to help, please don't hesitate to ask. We'll make sure you're motherhood ready!"

"Thanks," Neo giggled, her tears mostly gone now. "I don't know what I'd do without you guys. I just hope that Weiss will come around... I don't know if I can do this without her."

 **I couldn't think of a better way to celebrate Monty's life than by introducing new life today. (: Hope you liked the chapter, and I'll see you next time!**

 **If you'd like to help** **support me, there's a link to my page on my profile, and a donation link as well. Your support is helping me toward my goal of writing full time. (: Thank you to my amazing Patrons:**

 **Mike Zembruski**

 **Kenseilon**

 **Ryan Hoogerdijk**

 **Francis Lafontaine**

 **You're the best! ❤️**


	6. Enemies-in-Law

**Sorry about the long wait, I've had some rough stuff to get through along with being sick this past week. :P More or less better now though, so it's time to get back into the swing of things! I know I say this a lot, but I'm gonna try to get on a better release schedule for my stories. Maybe something like a chapter every Sunday. I was on a weekly schedule before, so I can do it again, right? Okay, that's all I've got for now. Enjoy the chapter!**

Chapter 6: Enemies-in-Law

Neo and Weiss didn't speak to each other for the rest of the evening, or see each other for that matter. It wasn't ideal, and it hurt Neo to see Weiss like this, but she couldn't blame her. This is a lot to take in, and even she hadn't fully come to terms with it yet. Even so, her mind had been made up from the moment she saw the test. Ready or not, she was going to be a mother, and all she could do now was hope that Weiss was willing stay around. She wanted to believe that the heiress wouldn't leave her, but she couldn't shake the nagging thought.

Mercury received a text from Cinder the next morning, telling him to meet outside a certain store at the mall. Her two new henchmen would be waiting to talk to him there. He went straight to Ozpin with the information, and was told there would be a plan of action ready by the time he was supposed to be there later in the afternoon. The members of team NEMP spent a fair amount of time imagining what their replacements would be like, and couldn't really come up with a concrete idea. They were a pretty diverse group themselves, and expected nothing less of whoever Cinder had found.

Even though they would be going to see him soon, Neo had another burning question she needed to ask their headmaster about. She'd been on the verge of panicking all night over whether she'd be able to stay in school. Everyone insisted that she was overthinking it, but that wasn't much of a comfort. She knew that there would be a lot of things she wouldn't be able to do anymore, and fighting was obviously near the top of that list.

Weiss didn't come down join them all for lunch, which stung a lot more than Neo thought it would. When they all finished eating, she decided that this was as good a time as any to go talk to Ozpin. Weiss still needed more time on her own, and since Neo knew all she'd do in her room was think about Weiss' response, she wanted to take her mind off of her for a little while. She parted from her friends outside the cafeteria, and made the short walk to Ozpin's tower and into the elevator.

"Yes, thank you," Ozpin said to someone on his video display as Neo arrived. The call ended, and he smiled as the screen disappeared and let him see her standing there. "Good morning, Neo. Please, take a seat. What can I do for you?"

She slowly walked to the chair, her anxiety suddenly shooting up. She sighed, "Well... I got some news yesterday, and I guess I need to figure out where to go from here."

"Would you believe me if I said that I just got off a call with Doctor Jade?" Ozpin chuckled.

"Oh... Well, alright, um... So what do I do now?"

"I'm not exactly an expert on babies," he smiled. "Perhaps another teacher would have more helpful advice."

Neo shot him an unamused glare, "You know what I mean. What do I do about school? This is it for me, right? I can't fight, I can't go on missions... Do I have to drop out? After everything I did to get here, do I have to throw it away?"

"Do you want to drop out?" Ozpin asked as if it were a casual question. For how clearly worried Neo was, he didn't seem to believe it was justified.

Neo tilted her head to the side, confused, "I don't understand... I have to, don't I? I can't take sparring or combat training anymore."

"For this year, no. However, that doesn't mean you can't continue to refine your fundamentals. There are plenty of exercises to keep you in fighting shape. As for sparring, Miss Goodwitch may be willing to waive you through if she believes you're sufficiently skilled enough to do so. That's at her discretion though."

"Wait, really?" Neo asked. "That's a thing? Then why aren't so many kids waived through to begin with? Pyrrha practically passed last year's classes without breaking a sweat."

Ozpin chuckled, "She easily could have. However, we tend not to tell students these things so that they don't grow overconfident from being pushed ahead, and continue to refine themselves. We like to save it for extraneous circumstances, such as yours."

Neo nodded and thought about this new option for a moment. She already knew she was going to take it, but there were still other concerns that she had. "What about after?" she asked. "I'll have to bring my kids with me if I come back next year. Am I allowed to do that?"

"Of course," Ozpin replied. The elevator beeped then, and Professor Goodwitch stepped out she walked beside Neo. "Ah, thank you for coming, Glynda."

"What's the emergency? Is everything alright?" she asked.

Ozpin shook his head, "Not an emergency. I'm sure you've heard about Neo's aura donation with Weiss by now."

"Yes, I have... Is something wrong with Neo? Ozpin, don't make me ask the right question to get an answer."

"Settle down, children," Neo giggled, enjoying the tiny role reversal. "I'm fine, but something did happen to me from the donation. To put it bluntly, Weiss got me pregnant. Professor Ozpin said you might be willing to waive me for this year's sparring classes since I won't be able to fight."

A look of wonder came over Glynda's face, "Wait wait wait, are you...? Ozpin, she can't be…? You're being serious, aren't you? Oh, oh my… I must say that of all the things I was expecting to hear, that was not one of them. I suppose some congratulations are in order then! And yes, I'll let you through. You're an incredible skilled fighter. Don't think that I'll be giving you any breaks next year though. You'll still be held to the same standards as everyone else."

"I wouldn't have it any other way," Neo grinned. "Thank you, thank you both, so much."

Professor Goodwitch took another minute to contain her excitement, eventually needing Ozpin to pull her aside. Needless to say, Neo left the office feeling immensely more relieved than when she'd walked in. There was almost a spring in her step from knowing how much her teachers cared and wanted her to succeed. Her teammates were out when she got back to her room, so she took a running jump and flopped onto her bed. She smiled and buried her face in her pillow, ' _Can I just sleep for the rest of the day?_ '

' _Don't you have a mission later?_ ' Beo giggled, happy to interject in Neo's optimism.

' _Meh, they can survive without me. If they can't handle going to the mall and coming back, then we're gonna have a serious talk about their choice of career._ '

A knock on the door caught her attention then, and she sat up in time to see Weiss gingerly poke her head inside. Neo wasn't sure whether to be happy or angry at first, but ended up deciding on angry. She crossed her arms and didn't make eye contact. It probably wouldn't have been her response had Weiss come to lunch, but the fact that she actively chose to ignore her made her more upset than she'd expected.

"Hey..." the heiress mumbled, looking down at the ground. "Neo, can we talk?"

"Depends on what we talk about," Neo coldly replied. She didn't like her tone, but she needed to get the point across that this was serious.

Weiss frowned and stepped inside, "Please don't hate me... I'm sorry for the way I acted last night. It was a lot to take in, and I feel like the worst girlfriend in the world for running off. I didn't sleep at all last night."

' _That's not much of an apology,_ ' Beo grumbled, and Neo couldn't help but agree.

"Anything else?" she asked.

"A lot, actually. I'm also sorry that I didn't come down earlier. I wanted to, but I was afraid that we might get into another fight, and I didn't want that to happen in front of everyone. I'm sorry that we're fighting at all..."

"It's alright," Neo sighed, standing up and walking to meet Weiss in the middle of the room. "So what now?"

"Now... Now we go forward. I know that you want me to say that I'm perfectly okay with all of this, but I'm not. It's going to take a while before I'm comfortable with the idea of being a mom so soon."

Neo turned her gaze to the floor, "Oh..." She thought that she'd prepared herself for that answer, but actually hearing it hurt far worse than she'd imagined.

"Let me finish," Weiss smiled, lifting her girlfriend's chin to look her in the eye. "Just because I haven't completely come to terms with it doesn't mean that I'm not going to be behind you every step of the way. We're in this together, whether we're ready or not, and I'm not about to leave you."

Beo giggled, ' _Now that's an apology. Well, what're you waiting for? Kiss her already!_ '

Neo smiled and did as she was told, wrapping her arms around the heiress' collar and not letting their lips part until she was satisfied. She started giggling, "You'd better not leave me. Ever. So... should we talk about what we're gonna do about the engagement now?"

"Nope," Weiss grinned. "I say we just let things happen on their own. When we get engaged, it should be because we love each other enough to do it, not because we feel pressured into it."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. For the record though, it's on you to propose this time. I'm expecting to be swept off my feet."

Weiss rolled her eyes, "You're something else, but I love you anyway."

"Love you too," Neo beamed, stealing a peck on the heiress' cheek. "Well, that takes care of that. Have any plans for the afternoon?"

"Sleep," Weiss laughed, and Neo was in more or less the same mindset. Had her scroll not started to ring, they probably would've passed out on her bed.

"Wow, that was quick," Neo commented when she saw the name on her screen. Weiss shrugged, so Neo tapped accept. "Hello?"

"Hello again, Neo," the headmaster greeted her.

"I'm guessing it's time to head out? I can't remember the last time you called just to say hello."

He chuckled, "Come now, sometimes I have good news to deliver. Anyway, would you please gather your teammates and come to my office? General Ironwood and I need to speak with you."

"On our way," Neo replied, then said goodbye and hung up. "There goes my quiet afternoon. Raincheck on taking a nap together?"

They kissed goodbye, and Neo quickly gathered her teammates and dashed off to Ozpin's office. As expected, he was sitting behind his desk when they arrived, with General Ironwood pacing by the window. Ozpin smiled as the team arrived, "Good afternoon. Are you ready for a bit of an extracurricular assignment?"

"Do we get extra credit?" Mercury asked. "Cuz I'm probably gonna pass if we don't." Emerald elbowed him in the rib, but the joke had done its job.

Ironwood showed a small grin as he shook his head, "We'll see. For now, let's get down to business. We've decided to go with your plan, Neo. Mostly. We'll be sending Mercury to meet with Cinder's associates, but we'll be sending your entire team along. Mercury, if they ask, say that Neo decided to make an afternoon of it when you mentioned where you were going."

Mercury nodded, "I can do that. Am I looking to get anything specific from them, or just see what they have to say?"

"The latter, for now. Since it's very unlikely that they fully trust you, it's best to simply ease your way in."

"That said, don't hesitate to collect any extra information if you can," Ozpin added. "We'll be monitoring your conversation through the security cameras around the mall. I'll provide the rest of you with access on your scrolls so that you can watch as well."

"What if it's a trap?" Emerald asked. Neo had been wondering the same thing, but it had seemed too unlikely to ask. Still, she was happy that it had come up.

Ironwood didn't seem fazed by the possibility, "In such a crowded area, I'd be astounded if they attempted something like that. But, if they do, the rest of you are free to intervene. Just having you there should be a fair deterrent though. Alright, let's get moving. You need to be there to meet them in an hour. Good luck."

The general arranged for a private fight to ensure that the team arrived at the mall on time. It wasn't necessarily the best idea to give them an entire airship to play in for a twenty-minute flight though, which ended up turning to thirty minutes because of a slight mishap caused by one of Neo's illusions. They disembarked at the mall and waved goodbye to their livid pilots, and laughed the entire walk in about what had happened.

Emerald wiped her eyes and tried to contain herself, "I can't... Oh my God, I can't... What were you thinking?"

"I dunno," Neo innocently replied. "I was aiming for Mercury, but I forgot how fast he was."

"But why a Taijitu?" he asked.

"What else am I supposed to scare you with? Haven't you seen 'Taijitus on a Plane' before? I thought it'd be funny!"

Penny giggled, "I thought it was hysterical, but I don't think our pilots would agree."

"You don't say," Mercury chuckled as they came up to a pastry shop on the north end of the mall. "Alright, we're here. You guys go inside and watch from your scroll. Whoever I'm supposed to meet should be across the way here."

The girls nodded and went inside, more than happy that their cover involved ordering donuts. Neo followed the link to the security feed that Ozpin had given them, and didn't take long to pick out who they were looking for. There was a boy and a girl standing against a wall between two stores, both of their eyes set on Mercury as he walked over.

The girl looked about average height, had shorter brown hair, and wore a bored expression that reminded Neo a lot of Beo. She was wearing a grey tank top and baggy cargo pants, and two metallic gauntlets on her wrists. They looked somewhat similar to Yang's, but didn't seem to be for the same purpose. They looked like whatever they transformed into was meant to be detached, but Neo could tell anything else.

The boy was far more interesting than the girl though. He was tall, had short, black hair, wore normal enough clothes, but that wasn't what drew Neo's eye. His right leg, right arm, and right eye were entirely robotic. His clothes were covering up where the limbs connected to his body, but it was far. Neo couldn't help but feel bad for him. Whatever could've caused an injury like that wasn't something she'd wish on anyone.

"Sup?" the blonde girl greeted Mercury as he walked up. "Didn't we tell you to come alone?"

He shrugged, "Yeah, well, my team kinda followed. When I said I needed to pick something up at the mall, Neo decided we could all go to 'bond as a team.' Not sure how we didn't bond enough in the ten years we've lived together, but whatever."

Neo and Emerald snickered while they listened to the audio coming in from Mercury's scroll. He wasn't always the greatest actor, but he could always pull off sarcasm.

"Very well," the boy replied, shooting a glance over to see if they were being watched. His voice was almost as gravely as Qrow's, but not quite as deep.

"I'm Lexy, by the way," the blonde smiled. "This is Tusk. So, you're the one we've heard so much about? Gotta say, you're a lot cuter in person."

"All good things, I'm sure?" Mercury grinned back at her, skipping over the last comment. "I'm surprised Cinder would reach out to me like this. Any particular reason, or did she just miss me that much?"

Tusk shook his head, "She needs some extra muscle." It was clear from his tone that he didn't trust Mercury, which was a bit ironic considering that he had been loyal to Cinder until he though she had died.

"So what now?" Mercury asked.

"For now, just lay low," Lexy answered. "Well, I guess you're already laying low, but you know what I mean. Just chill until Cinder calls. She wants you to be her man on the inside, but might have you come help us if need be."

"Works for me. Tell her and Roman I say hi. Oh, by the way, can you tell me how the fuck Roman is alive? Neo said she stabbed him through the chest."

Tusk chuckled, "Stabbing someone doesn't do much if you miss all their vital organs and major arteries. He passed out from shock and blood loss, but he wasn't dead. Cinder patched him up afterwards and used some of her new Dust techniques to get him back in shape. You'll see those first-hand soon enough."

"I look forward to it," Mercury replied. "Is that all then?"

' _He meant that,_ ' Beo said, sounding almost hurt, and Neo couldn't disagree. The smile on Mercury's face was genuine, and had been since the first mention of going back to Cinder. Emerald and Penny didn't seem to pick up on it, but now Neo was starting to think that this was a bad idea.

Lexy nodded, "Yep! See ya soon, cutie." She turned and started to walk off with Tusk, but had to stop and look back when she heard Mercury laughing. "What's so funny?"

He grinned, "Sorry, sweetheart, but I play for the other team. Nice try though."

The blonde looked a little disappointed, and settled on sticking her tongue out before disappearing into the crowd.

Emerald looked up from her scroll, "I'd say that went well. I wonder how Cinder decided on those two."

"Probably the same way she picked us up," Neo said as Mercury rejoined them. "What'd you think, Merc?"

"Not my type," he replied. Unfortunately, nobody else thought he was funny.

"You know what we mean," Emerald sighed. "What'd you think of them?"

Mercury shrugged, "I dunno. Lexy seems like she'd get along with Neo, and Tusk looks like an angsty teen that had a bad skateboard accident. Basically, I'll work just fine with them."

"Do you think they like you?" Penny asked.

"I think Lexy made it pretty obvious that she likes me. Tusk seems reluctant, but I don't really care if he doesn't trust me. I'm wondering more about what Cinder could need extra muscle for, and specifically want me for the job."

Neo thought for a moment, "I actually can't think of anything. Maybe... No, no..."

"I'm actually a little afraid," Mercury continued. "We know that she's doing some pretty fucked up stuff with Grimm and Dust. I get the feeling I'd be better off not getting involved at all. Doesn't seem like something I'll get out of easily either."

"Well, it doesn't matter right now," Emerald smiled, patting her partner on the back. "We have what we came for. The mission was a success, so that means we've got the rest of the afternoon to mess around here. Hey, wanna try to beat our old pickpocket record?"

"What happened to being good guys?" Penny asked, sounding confused. Luckily, she had Neo on her side, so nobody's wallets were stolen.

The team spent some time going around a checking out the stores, but none of them were in the right mood to be out shopping. Ironwood was intent on then coming back for a debriefing as well, so they boarded the next airship back to campus and were ready to call it a day. The general met them at the dock and discussed what they'd seen, but there wasn't really much for them to add. Everything had been recorded, so it was just a matter of figuring out the next move to make.

With their job complete, team NEMP walked back to their room and decided to have a lazy rest of the day. No stress, no missions, no surprise pregnancies, just them, their beds, their scrolls, and some relaxing peace and quiet. It dawned on Neo how long it's been since she'd last been able to lay back and read a book. They were only two weeks into the semester, and they'd already seen about as much action as last year. All she could hope for now was that things would stay settled and return to something close to normal.

With team JNPR out practicing late for sparring class, team NEMP met up with RWBY once it was time to get dinner. As expected, the only two things they wanted to talk about were Neo and Cinder. The discussion on Neo's children was far from over, and she wasn't sure if she was excited or afraid that it was only going to get worse. Cinder's new henchmen were a big topic of discussion as well, and after Mercury told them about Lexy in particular, the ship was ready to sail as far as everyone else was concerned.

Yang grinned, staring across the table at Mercury, "Well, you and Scarlet were nice while you lasted, but I vote that we move our effort to setting you up with Lexy."

"Yeahhhh, no," the silver-haired boy groaned. He was already wishing that he hadn't brought it up, but it was too late now. "But thanks anyway. She's all yours if you wanna have a go at her."

"Works for me. Em, are you up for three-?" Yang began, but was very luckily interrupted when Nora burst through the cafeteria doors and bolted over to the table.

"CHECK THIS OUT!" the ginger girl exclaimed before pushing a newspaper into Neo's hands.

Neo wasn't sure whether to be intrigued or afraid from Nora's tone, and began to read the headline out loud. "Miracle Baby from Aura Donation," she said, then immediately looked to Weiss. "Uh oh... That was a lot faster than I expected it to get out. Do you-? OH FUCK! We haven't told your dad yet! Do you think he reads the newspaper?"

Weiss groaned, "No, but I'm sure it's on TV and everywhere else by now..."

"You should probably go do that," Ruby chuckled.

Weiss and Neo nodded to each other and got ready to leave, but the heiress' scroll began to buzz before they could stand up. "Fuck," she swore under her breath. "Okay, I'll be putting my phone on speaker. Can the rest of you behave yourselves?"

Nora gave a menacing grin, "We'll see. PICK UP ALREADY!"

"Here we go..." Weiss sighed, and cautiously accepted the call. "H-Hey, dad."

"Good evening, Weiss," he replied, sounding strangely calm. "I just saw a rather perplexing article in the local news. I didn't know what to think at first, but you seemed like the right person to call for answers."

Neo nervously swallowed, "Um... Well... You already know that I did an aura transfer to get Weiss out of her coma. I ended up with a teeny tiny side effect."

Weiss' father started to laugh, "Tiny, you say? Not the way I would've phrased it, but alright. So the article was correct, then? You're truly...?"

"Pregnant?" Neo finished. "Yeah, I am. I'm pregnant with twins. Weiss' twins."

"You're going to be a grandfather," the heiress happily ventured, sensing that this call wasn't going to turn into hellstorm she'd been preparing for.

There was a pause before her father said anything, but the call wasn't silent. They could hear him breathing in the other end of the line, sounding almost like he was ready to cry. "I am a grandfather..." he repeated, letting it sink in. "Remarkable... And they're biologically yours?"

Neo smiled, "Half Weiss, half me. So... does this mean you're not mad?"

"Mad? How could I be mad? The idea of you two having children so young will certainly take some getting used to, but I could never be mad. It's not as though you were reckless and didn't use adequate protection."

"Oh my God... Dad, please don't..." Weiss groaned, putting her head in her hands.

He chuckled, "Fine, fine. But no, I'm not upset. After thinking that you'd never have your own children, how could I be upset with circumstances like these? Neo, I want you to know that I'll be giving Weiss a raise in her allowance to help with everything you'll need. If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask."

"Thank you, sir," Neo blushed.

"Of course. I can tell that the two of you are out at the moment, so perhaps we should continue this call a bit later. Your mother will likely be on the line as well."

"I don't think that's a good idea," Weiss mumbled. "Do you think she'll take it well?"

Her father sighed, "No, not likely. But, this isn't something that should be kept from her. Whether or not she'll upset, you need to tell her. It'll be far worse if she finds out on her own."

"I guess... Alright, we'll call you back in a little bit. Love you, daddy." They hung up, and Weiss slumped down her chair in relief. "Oh my God... Oh my God, I can't even tell you how happy I am right now."

"We can probably guess," Blake smiled. The entire table looked relieved, and incredibly happy to hear the good reaction.

Weiss and Neo weren't in the clear yet though. They had no idea how her mother was going to take the news, which made them even more nervous than before. They excused themselves early and went back to team NEMP's room to breathe and get ready for the fight they knew was coming. Neo sat down on her bed, fidgeting with her thumbs, while Weiss paced around the room. The heiress ended up sitting down as well with her scroll in hand, not ready to call her father back.

"Are you ready?" Weiss asked in a shaky voice.

Neo shook her head and put her arms around her girlfriend's torso, "Nope, but I think we can handle it. What's the worst that-?" She was cut short by Weiss' ringtone, and eagerly turned her head to see who it was.

"It's my mom," the heiress said, although her tone was more questioning than stating. She stared at her scroll for a few seconds, then pressed decline. "I'm not ready to deal with just her... Not without my dad in the call too."

Neo smiled and hugged a little tighter. They stayed together for a little while, then Weiss' scroll buzzed again. It wasn't another call or text though. It was a voicemail. "Uh oh," Neo whispered. "Should we listen to it?"

"I guess..." Weiss slowly replied. She unlocked her scroll, tapped okay, then speaker, and held it up for them to listen.

"Hello, Weiss," her mother began, sounding surprisingly calm. "I uh... I'm not sure what to say exactly right now. You know that I've been trying to make progress this past year. It's not easy for me, but I am trying. And now... I just read the news article about you and Neo. I'm shocked to say the least, and I honestly don't know how to react. I thought I'd be mad at first. Furious, even, but then... then it started to sink in. My daughter is having children, and... I'm going to be a grandmother.

Beo growled in the back of Neo's mind, ' _Why am I not surprised that that's the first thing she'd focus on?_ '

Weiss' mother continued, "One of my biggest fears with your relationship had always been not having biological grandchildren. I know it's selfish, but it was a reason nevertheless. I was elated when I heard the news, but then I remembered that I'd likely never see them... I realised that acting this way means... What I'm trying to say is that I'm not going to let my beliefs be the reason I never see my grandchildren. If you're happy with Neo, then I'll try to be happy for you. I look forward to seeing you two over winter break. I love you, Weiss. And tell Neo I say hello."

The voicemail ended, and the girls sat in silent awe. "Whoa..." Neo said quietly. "That was... unexpected."

Weiss slowly nodded, "Yeah... I get the feeling she's not being entirely sincere. We'll be having some long conversations over break."

"Better than shouting matches," Neo shrugged. She could see Beo grinning in her mind, and had a feeling her sister personality would prefer it that way.

"True, very true," Weiss giggled. "Alright, I think I should get bed soon. I didn't exactly sleep much last night."

Neo smiled, "Me neither. We discussed this, remember? I still have a raincheck to cash in for a nap."

"And I expect it to get cashed in tonight. I'm going to go take a shower, and I expect to see you in my bed when I get out."

"Done," Neo grinned.

Weiss turned and left, and Neo lay back on her bed. After a day this long, she wanted nothing more than to just lay down and go to sleep. She was about to get up and change into her pajamas, but Mercury came back from the gym before she had a chance. There was a clear look in his eyes that something was on his mind, something he didn't seem to enjoy being there, and after what she'd seen earlier at the mall, Neo had a pretty good idea of what it was.

She sat up on her bed and motioned for him to join her, "Everything okay, Merc? You look like you need someone to talk to."

He shook his head, "Nah, I'm good. Thanks any-"

"Mercury," Neo commanded, staring intently at her teammate. "I know something's up, and I'm pretty sure I know what it is already. Can we please talk about it?"

"Am I that bad an actor?" Mercury laughed, finally taking a seat beside Neo.

"Yes, yes you are. I know that you were serious earlier, about being excited to work for Cinder again. I don't... Why?"

Mercury sighed, "I wouldn't say... Alright, alright, maybe I am a little excited by the idea of being a bad guy again. It's just hard, ya know? Stealing is what I'm good at, what I love doing, and I haven't exactly been able to do anything like that for a long time. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad that I'm here with you guys, here at Beacon, but part of me misses the old days. Don't tell me that you haven't had the odd dream of going back."

"Well, yeah..." Neo quietly answered. "I know that you had a harder time adjusting than me and Em. Can I ask you something though? And I need you to be honest."

"You gonna ask if I'd ever actually go back, aren't you? I'd love to tell you no, but... I don't know. I have a hard time imagining myself as a Huntsman. Let's be honest, I'm far from hero material. I'm the one that the good guys need to be called in to get rid of."

Neo laughed, "Maybe a year ago, but you've changed a lot since then. Emerald had the right idea when we left Ozpin's office yesterday morning. If you were still as bad as you were, then you wouldn't turn red every time I said Scarlet's name. You're a good guy, Merc."

"Fuck you," he grinned, although his cheeks seemed to be proving his leader right. "But thanks. I still don't see myself as one of the heroes, but maybe that'll change one day. Maybe I just need the right opportunity to do something heroic."

"You'll get one soon enough," Neo smiled. "I promise you will, and I'm still batting a thousand on unbroken promises."

 **After watching the last few episodes of Volume 3, I'm noticing that Miles, Kerry, and I think very much alike. On that note, the plot arc for the rest of this story is all planned out, and I can't wait to write it so you guys can read it all. (: Also, on that note, I wanna quickly say that this story is going to go into some really heavy stuff. I'll say more about that in the future when it gets closer, as well as put trigger warnings at the top of chapters that need it, but I just wanna start preparing you now. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I'll see you guys next time!**

 **As always, thank you to my splendid patrons:**

 **Mike Zembrzuski**

 **Kenseilon**

 **Ryan Hoogerdijk**

 **Francis Lafontaine**

 **You're the best! ❤**


	7. From Dreams to Nightmares

**Hi guys! Sorry it's been so long. :/ I'll say the same thing I did in the last Starting at Checkmate update: Depression and college are a bitch. I think I'm back to normal though, so I'm gonna try to get back on a more regular schedule. I know I say that a lot, but I actually mean it this time. :P Oh, and make sure you read the note at the end. I've got some big news.**

Chapter 7: From Dreams to Nightmares

Three months went by, and the school year was passing by just as expected. Without any new distractions, students were finally able to focus on the work and classes at hand. A few new precautions and regulations were put in place to make sure that missions would be safer in the future, and it looked like the semester's rough start was well and truly in the past.

For Neo, those three months went by in a much different way. School came first, but the most exciting part of every day was getting back to the room and getting to look at her belly in the mirror. Normally, it wouldn't be obvious at this point that someone was pregnant, but with Neo being so small, and having twins, she was very clearly showing. The bump wasn't huge, but it only took one look to know that she was pregnant. It was strange, but as worried as she was, seeing herself slowly getting bigger gave her a warm sense of satisfaction, knowing that her children were growing inside her.

Her and Weiss' relationship had been a little strained for a while, but they'd finally gotten to a point where they were both comfortable with what was happening, and were happy to support each other the entire way. Weiss was still a little on the fence about what was going to happen in the end, but that was alright. Neo didn't know how all of this was going to pan out either, but that was half the adventure. All that mattered to her was that they were still together, they were happy, and they were ready to face this together.

On the opposite side of that spectrum was Mercury, and it was starting to make Neo worry. He'd been going through cycles of depression ever since meeting with Lexy and Tusk, and it was fairly obvious why. Ironwood had decided to have him act as their informant, having him work alongside Cinder again in the hopes of discovering where she was and what she was up to. Mercury made sure to keep his hands clean, but that seemed to be where the problem was stemming from. As much as he tried to avoid it, he couldn't deny that he liked being a bad guy.

"What do I do?" Mercury asked, sitting on the edge of his bed with his head in his hands. It was just after classes, and he and Neo had gone back to their dorm room to talk in private. Neo sat beside him, resting her hand on his shoulder to try to comfort him. "I don't know if I can keep being Ironwood's informant. I thought I could just play along, but... I like helping them. I like being an outlaw again."

Neo frowned, "Are you saying... you want to go back to Cinder?" She'd had her suspicions for the past few months, but she didn't want to believe that it was true.

"I-I... I don't know... No, I don't, but... this is making me remember why I didn't leave her earlier. This is the life I've always lived, that I've always loved. I still love it..."

"What about us?" Neo ventured, lightly shaking her friend's shoulder. "What about Em? Or RWBY? Or JNPR? Or Scarlet?"

Mercury only grew more frustrated, especially after the mention of his boyfriend's name. Their date had gone incredibly well, and they were officially a couple now. It was rare to see Mercury act as happy as he did when he was with Scarlet. Through all of his struggles, Neo could see that Scarlet was near the top in Mercury's list of things keeping him sane.

He sighed, "I do love you guys. It's not like I wanna abandon you, but I can't get away from this. I can't shake the thoughts of going back to how it all used to be. I'm pissed cuz I wanna go back, but I don't know if I can really be a good guy, and I wanna stay with you and Em, and... I don't know. I DON'T KNOW! I don't know anymore. I feel like I'm ready to just explode and have a complete mental breakdown."

"You need to tell Ozpin," Neo suggested. "Or Ironwood, or someone. Maybe tell Cinder you wanna be less involved because you think we're getting suspicious?"

"That's the thing, though. I don't want to stop," Mercury angrily replied. He stood up and ran his hands through his hair, growling across the room at nothing before letting out a frustrated scream. "I wish... I don't even know what I'm wishing for anymore... I wish things made sense again. I wish I could just be happy being here with you guys."

Neo stood up and wrapped him in a tight hug, "I'm here for you, Merc. Hey, I've got an idea. Maybe we could go to the mall this weekend and have that stealing contest you wanted to have with Em. Think that'd help hold you over?"

"Maybe," he laughed, hugging back. "Thanks, Neo. I don't know what I'd do without you. And honestly, that's what scares me the most. Sometimes I feel like you and Em are the only reason I come back from these missions instead of just saying fuck it and following Tusk and Lexy back."

"I understand," Neo sarcastically replied, huffing and turning away. "I'm not crazy enough anymore, so you want Lexy instead. I'm sure Tusk is good eye candy too."

Mercury grinned and rolled his eyes, "Yup, you caught me. Scarlet is cool and all, but you can't beat a man whose arm can vibrate."

"Oh come on! Really? You had to go there?" Neo recoiled in disgust.

He laughed and shrugged, and they kept chatting and laughing until the rest of their friends got home as well. As much as Mercury needed the pick-me-up, Neo needed one just as much. She and Weiss had said that they would call Weiss' mother this afternoon to talk, and Neo was ready to freak out. Granted, the heiress' mom had been a lot nicer later, and it seemed like she did want to try to get along, but they hadn't actually spoken to each other since that night at Weiss' house. Everything since then had been through voicemails from missed calls and texts, so having an face-to-face chat had Neo somewhat on edge.

"Relax," Weiss smiled as the walked to the library to make the call. "She's been really friendly lately, so what's there to worry about?"

Neo grumbled a few words under her breath before speaking in an audible volume, "Everything. I get that she's being nice when she can't actually see me and can think out her responses, but that could change in a call."

"She's not going to yell if that's what you're worried about. I've been talking to my dad about it, and he says that she's been coming around a lot from what he can tell. Sure, maybe she isn't exactly a hundred percent on board yet, but it sounds like she'll get there eventually."

"Eventually..." Neo sighed.

They arrived and got into one of the video booths, and Weiss dialed the number. It connected almost instantly since her mother was waiting for them, and soon a white-haired woman appeared on the screen, bearing a near exact resemblance to her.

"Hi, mom," Weiss greeted the woman, a nervous smile forming across her lips.

Her mother smiled back, "Hello, Weiss. Hello, Neo. How're you?"

"H-Hi, Mrs. Schnee," Neo stuttered. She hadn't expected to be acknowledged until Weiss mentioned her, or at least until she spoke on her own. "W-We're doing pretty well. What about you?"

"I'm alright, thank you for asking. So... I'm actually not sure where to start here."

Weiss crossed her arms, "Well, I suppose we could start with an apology. Not just from you, from everyone. We've all handled this poorly."

"You haven't," Neo smiled. "You've been really mature through all of it, at least I think so. Me on the other hand... That's questionable. I guess I'll be the first to say sorry. Actually, wait. Beo, get out here and apologise. You were the one who exploded."

' _Ugh, fine, but this is the only time I'm ever coming out to say sorry._ '

Neo's pupils suddenly dilated, and she tightly shut her eyes while the two of them switched places. It felt a little different than before, possibly because it'd been so long, but nonetheless it wasn't painful. Her eyes changed colors a few times as she opened them again and blinked a few times, then started to grin. "Sup?" Beo asked, looking between Weiss and her mother.

' _Don't be an ass,_ ' Neo growled.

Beo ignored her and started her apology, "Okay, um... Sorry about blowing up on you last time we met. I'm not gonna pretend that you didn't ask for it, but still, I'm sorry."  
Neo groaned, ' _I should've thought this through more..._ '

"I suppose I did," Weiss' mother replied, catching Weiss and Beo by surprise. "It's not easy to let go of beliefs you've held your whole life. Even so, I should've taken the time to think more about it. Even if I didn't approve, seeing Weiss as happy as she is with you should've been enough for me to hold my tongue. As long as you're happy together, I'm happy for you."

Beo went to speak, but Neo didn't need hear the start to know that it was a bad idea. She quickly made the transition back, and smiled at the screen, "Thank you. That means a lot from you."

' _Rude,_ ' Beo huffed.

"That went better than expected," Weiss said as she took Neo's hand. "Thank you for being mature. Both of you."

Her mother nodded, "Of course. Now then, let's move on to something more cheerful. Neo, how're you feeling? If you're anything like I was with Weiss at three months, I'd imagine not well."

"I feel okay, actually," Neo giggled. She hadn't thought much about it before, but apart from the first few weeks after her discovering that she was pregnant, she'd been feeling fairly normal. "Cravings are hitting me like a train, but the morning sickness and stuff have been pretty tame."

"I know that feeling. Anything in particular or just whatever hits you at the time?"

"Fucking burritos," Neo groaned, leaning back in her chair. "I can't even walk past a sign without my mouth watering. That and ice cream, but I ate a ton of ice cream before anyway."

"Ice cream with pickles," Weiss added with a grin.

The three of them started chatting, and Neo was floored at how friendly Weiss' mother was being. It felt odd, and she was suspicious at the beginning, but it wasn't long before that feeling faded. They were talking, laughing, sharing stories, and it brought out a new feeling that she hadn't expected. Having Weiss' mother talking to them like a mom reminded her of how Cinder was when she was little, but better. For the first time, she felt like she was talking to someone that could be considered a real mother figure in her life.

An hour passed before they knew it, and Weiss' mother gasped when she noticed the time. "Well, I should probably let you go," she said. "It sounds like you've got plenty of study to do. I expect A's if you've got time for all these dates."

Weiss groaned and put her head in her hands, "Okay, mom... Goodnight."

"Goodnight, dear. You too, Neo."

"G'night," Neo smiled. "I'm really glad we had this call."

"So am I," Weiss' mother replied.

They hung up, and Weiss gave a sigh of relief before turning to Neo with a wide smile. "That went a lot better than expected. I was sure that you or Beo would start a shouting match eventually."

"You give me so little credit," Neo giggled. She wasn't going to admit that Weiss was right about it for Beo though. "Wow, that really was a long call. We've still got some daylight left though. Wanna go get ice cream or something?"

"Maybe you should cut back on the ice cream," Weiss half joked and half meant seriously.

Neo gave an innocent shrug, "Hey, I'm just eating what the babies are telling me to. Can't argue with them."

Weiss rolled her eyes, but knew she couldn't argue in any way that would work. They started walking to the dining commons, and even the weather seemed to reflect their shared good mood. The sun was starting to set, casting a warm orange glow over the freshly-dusted campus. It was still snowing a little, but most of the powder had fallen during their call. Neo giggled the entire way, catching snowflakes on her tongue and getting amused looks from Weiss. It was a beautiful evening, a perfect ending to a great day.

The heat had been cranked up in the building from the cold weather, so they quickly found a table and set their jackets on the backs of their chairs. Neo dashed over to the dessert line and immediately started filling a huge bowl of chocolate ice cream. She added nearly every topping they offered, then went to the salad bar to add some tomatoes and peppers. Weiss shook her head when she saw what her girlfriend had returned with, "Okay, what the actual fuck?"

"I don't know what you mean," Neo chuckled, then started shoveling the concoction into her mouth.

"Slow down! You'll give the babies diabetes before they're even born if you eat that fast!"

Neo shot an amused glare across the table, "Fine, but only if you agree not to make fun of me for what I put on my food anymore."

"Deal," Weiss smiled. "So is there anything you want to talk about? Anything we've been forgetting about?"

Neo thought for a moment, running through anything they might have missed earlier. Nothing came to mind, and she was about to shrug the question off, but then her eyes lit up as an idea crossed her mind. "Names," she beamed. "I'm three months pregnant, and we haven't even mentioned names yet."

"Huh... I guess you're right. Well, have you thought of any?"

Neo gave a so-so wave with her hand, "Little bit? I've had some names in mind for my kids since I was, like, thirteen."

"Hey, here's a good thing about having twins," Weiss chuckled, the first time Neo had seen her do so when talking about the pregnancy. "We can each name the one that looks most like us."

"That's a great idea! I get the feeling that the split will be pretty obvious though, if the whole aura thing works as predictably as I think it will. So do you have any names in mind?"

"Yes, but you should go first," the heiress replied, happy to buy herself some time.

Neo giggled, "Alright, um... I like the name Vanilla for a girl, or maybe Mint. For a boy... I'm actually not sure. Napoleon? See, because I'm named after ice cream, and Napoleon is ice cream... Gonna be honest, I'm kinda banking on it being a girl."

"I could see that," Weiss laughed, rolling her eyes. "I guess that means it's my turn. Um... Glacia would be really pretty for a girl. I like gemstone names too, like Sapphire and Diamond. If it's a boy, I'd probably name him after my grandfather, Azure."

"That's really sweet," Neo smiled.

' _Hey, don't I get a say in this?_ ' Beo laughed in the back of Neo's mind. ' _Beo Junior is a pretty awesome name. Just saying._ '

"Shut up," Neo chuckled, shaking her head and getting an odd look from Weiss. "Sorry. That was aimed at Beo, not you."

They both stopped to laugh for a moment, then turned back to look at each other. They both had a certain twinkle in their eyes, and both seemed to be thinking the same thing. "Neo, we're gonna be parents," Weiss blushed, breaking from her usual, proper grammar for a split second. "We're really going to be parents."

Neo started to grin, "Are you just now coming to that realisation? I've been pretty aware for a while now."

"Oh hush. You know what I mean though. I guess it's finally sinking in for me."

"That's good, right?" Neo ventured. The conversation had been going really well up until now, and she knew that this could be the point where it could all go south. Weiss' cheerful mood until now made her hopeful, but that wasn't a guarantee.

The heiress smiled and reached across the table to rest her hand on Neo's belly, "Yeah, it is. I'm sorry that it took me so long, but I can finally say that I'm actually really excited. I didn't think I'd ever be ready to be a mom this early, but... I am. Granted, it could be because I'm not the one who's pregnant, but still."

"Good, I'm glad," Neo replied, putting her hand on top of her girlfriend's. "I love you, Weiss."

"I love you more," the heiress said, blushing.

"Not possible, but I'll remember that for the next time I fuck something up really badly. So what else do you wanna do tonight?"

The answer to that question turned out to be as simple as watching a movie in team RWBY's room and snuggling in Weiss' bed. It was a Tuesday, though, so they couldn't stay up too late with their early lectures the next morning. Neo wasn't as concerned about it as Weiss was, but luckily the heiress had all but mastered the art of getting Neo to listen to her by now.

They said goodnight, and Neo went back to her room to shower and get ready for bed. Today felt like one of the most perfect days she'd had in a long time, and it was a little sad to hear that it had to end so soon. After drying off and putting on her pajamas, she hastily brushed her teeth and jumped into bed. Her hope was that her dreams tonight would be as wonderful as the day had been, and that was the thought she held as she drifted off to sleep.

In her dream, Neo found herself walking down a dark corridor in the old warehouse. She went through a set of double doors and arrived in an open room with Cinder on one side, and a group of three nervous-looking men on the other. There was a fourth man on her knees beside Cinder, dressed the same as the other three, with his hands and feet bound, as well as having a piece of duct tape over his mouth.

Cinder grinned as Neo entered, "Ahh, good. We can finally get started now."

"Make it quick," Neo yawned, taking her stop behind the captive men.

"P-Please," one of the other men stammered, his hands shaking as he spoke. "The shipment was delayed. We-"

"Save your excuses," Cinder interrupted. "I gave you ten thousand Lien to bring six truckloads of Dust here. That was our deal. But, I see no Dust, and you've spent all of that money. What am I supposed to do?"

Another of the men spoke up, "We just need another day. The convoy we were targeting got held up. We can get it tomorrow, and you'll have your Dust."

"Or you'll just run," Neo gladly pointed out.

Cinder nodded, "Precisely. We had a deal, and you didn't hold up your end. I didn't specific where to get the Dust from, I simply asked for an amount. When you accepted my money, you agreed to have that amount here by noon."

"I'm sorry," the first man ventured in a panicked voice. "We fucked up, okay? It happens to everyone. It won't happen again, I swear."

"You're right. It won't. But, that still leaves the issue of what to do right now. Can you repay me for the money I lent you?"

The third man nervously gulped, "N-No... If you give us until-"

"Silence!" Cinder hissed, then turned to Neo. "Make sure they understand how well I tolerate failure."

Neo grinned and gave a nod, looking down at the helpless man in front of her. She could see the fear in his eyes, the sweat dripping from his brow, and it was almost enough to sate her. Almost. She pulled her sword from her umbrella before anyone could react, and slit the man's throat in one fluid motion. His muffled screams came through, but didn't last long. He flailed on the ground in a growing pool of red until his cries turned to shallow gasps, his frantic attempts to free himself turned to slow twitches, then he went limp.

An evil smile spread across Cinder's lips as she watched. When the struggle ended, she looked back over at the three terrified men who'd just watched their friend die. "I take it we understand each other now? If the shipment is not here by this time tomorrow night, then you'd pray that I never see you again. Are we clear?"

The men all nodded, each taking a step back. "Y-Yes," they all said at once.

"Actually, on second thought..." Cinder continued after a brief moment of thought. "I don't think this is really working out. Neo, if you would, please?"

Neo suddenly sat upright in her bed, the last image from her dream being her advancing on the men. She took a deep breath and wiped the sweat from her forehead, thankful that it hadn't been real. She quietly got up and went to the bathroom to get a drink of water, then curled back up in bed in the hope of quickly falling back asleep. That wasn't the case though, and she lay there for what felt like hours while her nightmare wouldn't leave her mind, until her exhaustion finally won out.

' _That was... weird...'_ Neo thought as she fell back asleep. ' _I haven't had a nightmare like that in a while…_ '

Morning eventually came, and Neo tried her best to pay attention in class. The dream lingered though, burned into her memory, looping over and over. It wasn't like she'd never had nightmares like this before, but this one was hitting her hard for some reason. She didn't take a single note during any of her classes, or pay the slightest bit of attention toward the end of the day. Her one saving grace was combat training, since she couldn't fight and didn't need to be focused, but that also left her with a full block of time to be alone with her thoughts. By the time class was only half over, she was already ready to scream.

She sighed, ' _Yo, Beo, any chance you can fuck around in there so I stop remembering that dream?_ '

 _'I wish,_ ' Beo groaned. ' _I keep seeing it too. I'm sure it's messing with you more than it is with me, but I agree that it's getting on my nerves. I'll see if I can figure something out._ '

A few minutes passed, but nothing changed. The haunting image of the man's terrified face wouldn't go away. Neo shuttered, ' _Oh my God... Beo, is that really what we were like? I know it was usually you doing the dirty work, but..._ '

' _Yeah, we were... Well, I that's not entirely true. I was always like that, and still am to some extent. You were always the good one._ '

' _Some extent?_ ' Neo asked.

' _Okay, fine, I'm still that way,_ ' Beo sighed. ' _That's most of why I don't wanna have control anymore. We've got a great life now, and I know that I'm gonna fuck it up eventually. I'm happy in here, and you're happy out there, so it works. I was fine talking to Weiss' mom for a minute cuz I couldn't see much going wrong, but even you saw how fast I would've gotten carried away._ '

Neo frowned, somewhat noticeably to the people around her, ' _But that's not fair to you._ '

' _Really, it's fine. Call if you need me to eviscerate someone, but otherwise I'm good I'm here._ '

She wanted to argue, but a tap on her shoulder caught her attention before she could. "You okay?" Emerald asked. "You look really down."

Neo rubbed her eyes and nodded, "Yeah, just had a bad dream last night. It was about Cinder and killing people and shit. Not fun."

"Sounds fun to me," Mercury added, getting glares from his teammates.

Emerald shook her head, then turned back to Neo with a comforting smile, "Do you wanna talk about it?"

"Nah, I'm okay," Neo replied. "I was just talking to Beo about it. It'll probably pass soon."

It didn't pass though, and the dream continued to stay in her mind for the rest of the day. Even after classes were over, and afternoon turned to evening, she still couldn't unsee what she'd done. Team RWBY, JNPR, and NEMP got together for dinner like they usually did, and it was clear that Neo was very out of it. Weiss suggested that she go take a nap after dinner to see if getting some sleep would help, and Neo was more than happy to try. She flopped into bed the moment she got back from the dining hall, and was out in seconds.

"Hmmrph..." Neo grumbled some unknown amount of time later as she woke up and stretched. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and looked over to the clock. "Just after eight o'clock... I guess that's not bad."

"How do you feel?" Emerald asked from across the room, startling her leader.

Neo sat up and yawned, and noticed that the dream wasn't in her mind anymore. She could still very easily recall it, but it wasn't there nagging at her like it had before. "Um... I feel a little better, actually. So what've you been up to while I was asleep?"

"Not much," Emerald shrugged. "Mostly playing games on my scroll. Penny's over with Ruby, and Mercury is out doing some extra sparring matches with Blake and Nora. I think Coco is with them too, or maybe it's Yatsuhashi. Wanna go hang with everyone else?"

Neo happily nodded, and the two of them went across the hall to team RWBY's room. Everyone there had just started a Cards Against Remnant game, which they were very eager to jump in on. Weiss looked happy to see Neo smiling as she sat down, and Neo explained that she was feeling better. The game made sure to help with her mood as well, and an hour later, she had all but forgotten about her nightmare.

"Okay, this could be for the win," Jaune said, picking up the pile of white cards he'd been given. "Okay, 'What is in Oobleck's coffee?' We have... cocaine, literally shit, tentacle Grimm-"

"Wait, what?" Ruby laughed, falling backwards. "What the hell are tentacle Grimm?"

Yang grinned, "Lots of fun. Keep going, Jaune. I want my win!"

"You need four more to win," Penny pointed out. "It's Neo and Ren that only need one more."

"May I continue?" Jaune asked, getting nods and grins from everyone. "Where was I? Right, right... Tentacle Grimm, whatever they're serving in the Haven cafeteria, incest, old chewing gum, the biggest Faunus dick, or bukkake... Wow, this is a tough one."

"Is it though?" Yang asked with a wink.

Jaune thought for a moment, "Hmm... I'm gonna have to go with tentacle Grimm, because I like the idea of him turning around to take a sip and just having tentacles explode from the cup."

"Then that means I win," Ren smiled, taking the black card and adding it to his pile. "Good game, everyone."

"BULLSHIT!" Yang exclaimed. "How did the biggest Faunus dick NOT win?"

Pyrrha chuckled, "If I were you, I'd be more concerned with the fact that Ren won out of all of us. No offense, Ren, but this doesn't seem like your kind of game."

He shrugged, "Just because I'm quiet doesn't mean I can't have a dirty mind."

"We need Merc in on the next game," Emerald said, checking the time. "Nora too. By the way, when did they say they're getting back? It's after nine. They've been gone for almost three hours."

"I'll call Blake," Yang said as she pulled out her scroll. She tapped on Blake's contact and held it up to her ear for a few moments, then pulled it away with a confused look. "Voicemail. Maybe she's still sparring?"

Ren tried calling Nora and got her voicemail as well, as did Neo when she called Mercury, and Emerald with Coco. Emerald shrugged, "Maybe we should go check on them? I find it hard to believe that they've spent this entire time out there and are still sparring."

"On it," Ruby said, and disappeared in a cloud of red. She was back a minute later with an even more confused look than before. "They're not at the sparring fields. Did they say that they were going somewhere else afterwards?"

"Not that I remember," Jaune replied, starting to look a little worried. "We should probably go look for them."

Everyone nodded, and split up to check anywhere they thought their friends would've gone. The teams met up at the fountain in front of the school, but none of them had found anything. They weren't in the dining hall, the library, the gardens, the hospital, or anywhere else on campus that they could think to look. It was almost ten o'clock, and the level of worry among the group was growing higher and higher. They tried calling again, but still didn't get a reply.

"What the fuck?" Yang finally said, looking around and off into the distance. "Did they go into town and all forget their phones? Why wouldn't they tell us where they were going?"

Neo shrugged, "I have no idea. Should we go ask Ozpin if he can locate them? Or can we do it on our own?"

"We can't," Emerald replied, shaking her head. "I've tried. We can only monitor aura and stuff. Only teachers can see locations, but only with the headmaster's permission. We should go see him."

 **BIG NEWS! So, if you've looked at my profile picture here, or follow my Facebook or page, you'll see a new face. That would be the face of none other than Vanilla Schnee. (; I've been asked how far I plan to continue A Neo Outlook on Life, and I think you'll like the answer. As it stands, I have up through A Neo Outlook on Life V planned out in my head, so yeah, that far. I know that there's no way I'll be able to make it to the end of this story to start teasing things, so I'm just gonna start doing it now. After every chapter, there'll be a new tease of something on both my Facebook and page for everyone to see, (links on my profile here) so be sure you check them out! I'll put a reminder at the ends of chapters to remind you. This chapter's tease is Vanilla, so stay tuned to see who and what come next. (; Oh, and speaking of what comes next, I hope you're ready for the next few chapters...**

 **If you'd like to help support me, there's a donation link and link to my page on my profile. Your support is helping me toward my goal of writing full time. (: Thank you to my amazing Patrons:**

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 **You're the best!** **❤️**


	8. Self Discovery

**Hi guys! So, I feel like I should give you a better explanation of what's been going on, and why I've been updating so infrequently. As I've said, I've been having problems lately with my depression. I've had a few episodes in the last month, some going a little further than I'd like to admit, and it's made writing incredibly difficult. I've gotten into drawing as a result, and I've been having a lot of fun getting into it. (You should check out my DeviantArt page, same username as here.) I've bounced back significantly, and I'm hoping that I'll be back to normal as summer rolls around. So, yeah, that's that. Thank you all for being patient with me.**

 **Now, where was I? Oh, right. Ahh, it's good to be back. (: I've really missed writing for Neo. If I weren't back home, I'd be mixing myself a drink right now, but that's probably not a good idea in front of my parents. :p Although, I bet a drunk stream would be one hell of a good time. Maybe next weekend. Anyway, enjoy the chapter, and sorry for the wait!**

Chapter 8: Self Discovery

A week passed with no sign of the missing students. The police and military began a search, under the assumption that they had been kidnapped. It was a huge shock to everyone, especially to Neo. It was very troubling to her that one of the people involved was Mercury, and there was a terrible feeling in the pit of her stomach that he may have been involved. She didn't want to believe it, but it was hard to ignore. WIth how much he'd talked about how he was struggling, it wasn't as remote a possibility as she wanted it to be.

In the days following the disappearances, Neo and the rest of her friends and teammates were left in a very depressed state. Not as much because they were thinking about Mercury, but more because of the circumstances surrounding it. There was absolutely no trace of them or their possible kidnappers to be found. It was also strange to them that those four students in particular were the ones targeted. Nothing stood out about them, which was even more worrying when they started to delve into the realm of what reasons Cinder could have for wanting them.

Their only saving grace was that it was a Thursday, so only one more day stood between them and the weekend. They'd already finished their classes for the day, and were in their rooms relaxing until it was time for dinner. Even if she wasn't doing much, Neo enjoyed the time she had right now to just listen to music and try to forget the outside world while she played on her scroll. It wasn't exactly the healthiest way to cope with her doubts, but it sufficed. She likely would've stayed in her bed for the next hour or so until it was time to eat, but a message from Professor Ozpin had other plans.

"What do you think this is about?" Emerald asked as she and Neo headed for the headmaster's office. Ozpin had asked for the two on them to come to him immediately, which they both knew would mean either very good or very bad news.

Neo shrugged as they stepped into the elevator, "Who knows. I've got my fingers crossed that it's because they have at least a lead, and maybe our help moving forward with it."

"The eternal optimist," Emerald chuckled. "I'm trying not to get my hopes up, but I've got a good feeling about this. I guess we'll see in a minute."

They both a deep breath as they watched the number on the floor display steadily climb. Neo felt her heart pounding in her chest, and despite her cautious optimism, she didn't share the same feeling as Emerald. The doors opened to the headmaster's office, revealing him and General Ironwood behind his desk. They appeared to be deep in conversation until they heard the ding of the elevator, and turned to face the girls as they approached.

"So what's up?" Neo asked, looking over Ozpin and Ironwood's faces to get a sense of what exactly they were in for. Both men looked calm, but she could see something was deeply troubling them.

' _Uh oh…_ ' she thought as she and Emerald stopped in front of the desk. ' _Please don't be bad news... Please don't be bad news... Please be that they've found everyone and they're okay and it's something to do with Cinder._ '

Beo sighed, ' _Even I'm not that optimistic, but relax. They don't look somber or anything, so I'm guessing nobody died._ '

"Good afternoon," Ozpin greeted the girls in a somewhat depressed tone, sending a jolt of fear down Neo's spine. "I'm sure you're wondering why we called you in so urgently."

Emerald nodded, looking more than a little nervous, "Is everything okay? Please tell me you found something."

"We did," Ironwood replied. His expression and tone were both very uneasy, and Neo could feel her legs starting to quiver. She knew this was going to be bad news.

"A-And...?" Neo asked. "It's not good news… I can tell..."

Ozpin sighed and shook his head, "As I said the other day, security feeds around campus were jammed, and weren't able to pick up anything. However, I had campus security run the footage through a computer program to see if anything slipped through in the static. We found a few frames of footage that show your friends being taken off Beacon. It's not at all what we were expecting."

The headmaster brought up a still image for the girls to see, sitting back in his chair to let them see it for themselves. Neo could make out the figures of three people leaving, each one carrying something on their shoulder. At first, she didn't see anything about it that stood out to her. Then, it clicked for at the same time as it did for Beo.

' _No... No no no,_ ' Beo gasped.

Neo brought her hands up to cover her mouth, "Oh my God... I-I..." She looked more closely, hoping that her eyes were just playing tricks on her, but they weren't. The three people being carried were Blake, Nora, and Coco. The three people doing the carrying were Tusk, Lexy, and Mercury.

"No..." Emerald whispered in disbelief. "H-He wouldn't..."

"I'm so sorry," Ironwood said in a low voice. It wasn't often that Neo saw him acting compassionate, but she could see now that he truly meant it. He could see how heartbroken she and Emerald were, and, for once, seemed to sympathise.

Ozpin closed the image and took a slow drink from his mug, "Girls, I'm going to say something now, and I need you to understand that I'm trying not to make any assumptions, or attack anyone. I need you to listen, think, and answer me to the best of your ability, because this is a very, very awkward situation to handle. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir," Emerald agreed without hesitation, and Neo followed up with a nod.

"Good. Now, I need you to tell me if there was anything that Mercury said to you in the days before the kidnapping that would have lead you to believe he would turn. More importantly, I need to get a sense of whether or not he may have been acting as a double agent from the night he first contacted you after the incident in the warehouse."

"Furthermore," Ironwood added. "I want to make it clear that both of us trust the two of you. Neo, there is no doubt in my mind that you are a changed person. I would trust you over many students who attend this school. Emerald, you've earned much the same respect. That said, I'll be keeping both of you under watch until such time that Cinder is apprehended. This is nothing personal, but I'm not above the law, and I'm required to keep persons affiliated in the way you are under surveillance in a time like this."

"I understand," Neo quietly replied, looking down at her feet. "Mercury had been talking to me for a while about how he didn't always feel like he belonged here. He was really conflicted because he still felt like a bad guy, but wanted to stay here because he didn't want to hurt any of us. I think it was having him act as our double agent that made it so hard. He got to be bad again, and... and I guess he chose to go back..."

Emerald was practically in tears, and Neo was very close to joining her. She felt utterly betrayed, like she'd been played for a fool this entire time. She wanted to believe that Mercury had been honest with her from the beginning, but the general's words stuck out in her mind too much to ignore. She felt sick to her stomach, and finally couldn't keep herself from crying.

"Very well," Ozpin continued, turning to look at Ironwood. "I think that'll be all we need them for, James. Neo, Emerald, you should get some rest. We may need you more in the days to come, but for now, that will be all."

Ironwood nodded, "I agree. Girls, I hope that the next time we call you, it'll be for something more uplifting. We're going to do everything in our power to find your friends and bring them back. Perhaps we'll be able to reason with Mercury as well. Like I said, I'm not going to make assumptions as of yet. It's entirely possible he's been blackmailed into helping them. If he contacts you in any way, please come straight to myself or Professor Ozpin. Hopefully, we'll be able to end whatever is going on before it can start."

Delivering the news to their friends was one of the most painful things Neo had ever done. Emerald wasn't even able to maintain her composure and completely broke down, crying into Yang's shoulder the entire time Neo talked. Nobody knew what to say in response, and all three teams seemed to shut down until it was time to go to dinner. Nobody talked, nobody got out of bed. It was a mess, they all were, but that was okay. Neo knew that she and the rest of the group needed time to process what had happened, and hoped that something would come along to bring up the mood.

They all sat down together at dinner, but it wasn't like normal. Nobody had said a word since they left the dorms, and that didn't seem like it was going to change any time soon. The atmosphere at the table was almost morbid from how dark it was. Neo tried to think of a way to start a conversation without forcing it, but came up empty handed. She was ready to accept the silence and embrace it, until the boy sitting across from her caught her eye.

"Jaune?" Neo asked, noticing his obvious bad mood. Something about it stood out to her, though, something that told her it was more than just the news from earlier. "Everything okay?"

He shook his head, "No, not really. Family drama on top of everything else."

"Go on," Yang enticed, looking eager to hear some gossip and maybe get a change of pace from how somber everything had turned.

"It's my oldest sister, June. She's dating a really scummy guy, and it's beyond any of us why. Basically, she's pregnant now, and he ran. She's heartbroken, my mom is furious, it's just a mess. It doesn't help that my mom is kinda racist, and the boyfriend is a cat Faunus. Well, ex-boyfriend now."

Ruby's face noticeably fell when Jaune mentioned his mother's attitude, probably thinking of Blake. "I'm sorry to hear that," she said. "Has your sister said what she plans on doing when she has her kid?"

Jaune shrugged, "Not really. She said she's probably gonna keep it, but hasn't really decided. She's hoping our mom will help her take care of it until she finds a new job and place to live, but that might not happen if it's a Faunus."

"What a bitch," Pyrrha commented, getting a laugh from everyone. She didn't normally curse, but she had a knack for doing it at just the right time, and succeeded in bringing the mood back up a bit.

"Well, I'm sure your sister will make a great mom," Neo said, smiling at Jaune. "Just make sure that if she decides to put the child up for adoption, she does a background check on the new family. Wouldn't want them growing up like Em and I."

Weiss gave a small laugh, "Wow. Just wow. You know, I don't think you've ever mentioned your birth family before. Do you know anything about them?"

"Nope. All I know is that Cinder picked me up at an orphanage when I was two. I was too little to remember anything about it. She didn't exactly adopt me by legal means either, so there wasn't any paperwork to go off of that might lead me to them. I don't even know what orphanage it was. The only reason she knew my name was Neopolitan is because everybody's stuff was labelled. Just first names though, so I never knew my last name."

"Not even an initial?" Penny asked, intrigued. The rest of the table seemed to share her interest as well, since Neo rarely talked about things that far in her past.

Neo shook her head, "Nope, just my first name. I don't really mind, I guess, but it'd still be nice to know."

"Wait, what about your bracelet?" Emerald asked, turning all eyes to her. "You had that silver ID bracelet, didn't you?"

Neo gave her a puzzled look for a moment, then suddenly sat up straight and gasped. "Oh my God, you're right! I don't remember what all was on it though. I didn't really pay attention to it. Do you know what I ended up doing with it?"

"Umm... Shit, I don't know. You used to wear it everywhere."

"Did you lose it?" Pyrrha asked.

"I don't think so," Neo replied, trying to think. "I would definitely remember that. Wait, Beo, do you remember?"

Beo started to laugh, ' _Where the bracket is? Not a clue. What the initial was? Um... Sort of? I think it was a P or B... E maybe? Something like that. I'm kinda surprised we never took notice of it before. I'll do some digging around in our memory and see what I can find._ '

Neo rolled her eyes at the response, "Better than nothing, I guess. Beo thinks it's either a P, B, or E. Narrows it down a bit, but doesn't exactly give anything away. She says she's gonna see if she can find anything."

"We can try searching for your name online," Weiss suggested, pulling her scroll out. "Maybe the orphanage posted something looking for you?"

The rest of the table gathered around her as she started to search, but the results weren't what they'd hoped for. She searched three separate times for each of the possible letters, but nothing that came up was helpful in any way. She tried with the rest of the alphabet as well, but still nothing. She sighed, "Sorry, Neo. It was worth a try."

"Don't worry about it," Neo smiled, stealing a kiss on her girlfriend's cheek. "I didn't expect something to come up anyway. I've just kinda accepted that I won't ever know who they are. I am gonna keep an eye out for my bracelet though. It's actually pissing me off that I can't remember what I did with it."

"What about you, Em?" Yang asked. Team NEMP's childhood didn't come up much, so now that it had, it seemed like everyone had questions they were ready to ask.

Emerald shrugged, "I was orphaned too because of an accident. Both my parents were killed. Cinder took me in around the time she brought in Neo. She took Mercury in a little after that, but Neo and I were still too little to remember it. Merc had a pretty abusive and neglectful family, so Cindy really did him a favour."

"Wait wait wait," Jaune interjected, having the same question as everyone else. "Cindy? Did you just call Cinder 'Cindy'?"

Neo nodded, "All three of us did growing up. We kinda stopped using it when we got older, but I still use it from time to time. I'm sure you've heard me say it before."

"No, never," Weiss chuckled.

"Well, regardless, we did. So, any more questions on how we grew up? It'd probably be good to fill you guys in at some point, huh?"

Ruby raised her hand, "ME ME ME! Okay, so, are Cinder and Roman, like, a thing?"

"Oh God," Emerald groaned, smiling and resting her head in her hands. "The short answer or the long answer? The short answer is I have no fucking clue. The longer answer is maybe? Roman's been around as long as I can remember, and he and Cinder always seemed really flirty around each other, but it always looked platonic. Like, they never held hands or kissed or anything, not in front of me at least."

"They did sleep together once," Neo added, turning Emerald's attention to her.

"Wait, what? When did that happen?"

Neo rolled her eyes, "Remember when we were on vacation in Atlas, and she and Roman were in the hotel room next to us? I think we were eight or nine at the time. Remember when we heard all that rustling, bed springs, and the lamp breaking? They were lying when they said they were making the bed and accidentally knocked the lamp over."

"Son of a bitch," Emerald laughed, realising how innocent she'd been. "I don't think I'll look at them the same way again. I've gotta say, I miss stuff like that. I know that Cinder's bat-shit crazy and evil, but it was always so much fun when she'd take us out somewhere. I guess it was usually Roman that let us get away with stuff, but still."

"You talk very highly of him," Ren commented. "Nearly every time he comes up, you have something nice to say."

Neo smiled, "Well, yeah. He was basically the cool dad to Cinder's half fun, half bitchy mom-ness. It really hurt knowing that he stuck with her through everything. In the days after the warehouse incident, I was really, really upset with myself for killing him... Well, I guess I didn't actually kill him, so that makes me feel a little better."

Weiss smiled and gave her girlfriend a kiss on the cheek, "Do you think he'd ever consider leaving her?"

"Not likely," Emerald answered. "He's the same way Mercury is, except he's got a much bigger problem with authority. If I had to guess, the only reason he's taking orders from Cinder is being he either owes her, bigtime, or because he's sleeping with her. Or both. Probably both."

Everyone quieted down after she finished, mostly because of the mention of Mercury. It was still hard on all of them knowing that he'd betrayed them, and it was probably a mistake to bring him up them. Everyone went back to eating, but it didn't feel right to brood over what had happened and let it keep them from having a nice evening. They continued to eat in silence for another minute or two, but that was all that Ruby was going to allow.

The caped girl looked up and cleared her throat, "So, anyone read any good books lately?"

"I have, actually," Yang replied, getting confused stares from the rest of the table. "What? Just because I cuz I'm not super nerdy doesn't mean I can't read. I found this cool book called 'Harbinger' that I really like. It's got demons, action, romance, all the good stuff! You guys should definitely try it. I'm about halfway through right now."

Pyrrha nodded, "I'll have to see if there's another copy in the library next time I'm there."

"Are you abstinent now too, sis?" Ruby teased, making both her sister and Emerald blush.

"Not a chance," the green-haired girl smirked, and Ruby instantly regretted making the comment. "So, not to take it back to a depressing mood, but I've kinda been worried about something..."

"What is it?" Pyrrha asked.

"Well... I'm worried about myself, and what I might do... If Mercury could turn around and go back, what's to say that I won't? Don't get me wrong, I love all of you, and I'd never want to leave, but I can't help but wonder..."

Neo frowned, "Don't think like that. I think we all knew that Mercury wouldn't be able to make things works here. He loved being the bad guy, and never saw himself as good. I dunno about you, but I think you're good at heart. Don't get me wrong, I like being bad too, but I like helping people more. This is much more fulfilling that what we did before, right?"

"Yeah, it is," Emerald smiled, but not for long. "You get what I'm saying though, don't you?"

"That's it," Neo smiled, standing up and pushing her chair in. "Emerald, we're having a girl's night, and not one where we go get our nails done. I'm talking about the times when we were thirteen and went out, just the two of us, and saw what kind of trouble we could get ourselves in. If we don't get the cops called for one reason or another, then we haven't done it right."

Emerald immediately perked up, "Remember the time we got the mall shut down because of the claw machine game?"

"Context?" Weiss asked, looking confused.

Neo laughed and shook her head, "We cheated to win the game by using the chains in Emerald's guns. Don't ask how we kept them hidden. Basically, we accidentally cut a few wires on the way out, shorted the grid on that wing of the mall, and everything kinda went to hell from there. It was pitch black, chaos ensued, you get the idea."

"I bet we could do it again," Emerald grinned, already back in the spirit of when she and Neo were kids.

"Not a chance in hell," Weiss quickly interjected. "Neo, I love you, but you're pregnant. This isn't the time to go out looking for trouble."

Neo huffed, but couldn't deny that Weiss was right. "You're no fun..." she grumbled as she sat back down.

Yang's face suddenly lit up, "Maybe Neo can't take you, but I sure can! Let's go, Em! We're having a date night, and it's gonna be anything but normal or boring."

"Can I at least finish eating first?" Emerald asked, laughing.

Jaune smiled, "Em, don't worry. You're not the same as Mercury."

"Yeah, you're much better in bed," Yang chuckled, once again turning all heads to her. "Relax, I've never slept with Mercury! Sheesh. I'm only going off of what Scarlet's told me."

"THEY'VE HAD ONE DATE!" Weiss exclaimed in disgust. "Does nobody at this school wait until at least the third date?"

"No," the entire rest of the table answered in unison, including Ruby and Penny.

Yang cocked her head to head side, "Sis...? Is there something that you'd like to share with me?"

Ruby and Penny both blushed and giggled as they shared a glance. Ruby put on her most innocent smile, "Uhh... Maaaaaybe?"

"Question," Neo interjected. "How does that work? Not to be crude, but um... Penny, do you actually have...?"

The ginger girl blushed even harder and nodded, "Yes and no. My father wanted me to be able to have the life of a normal girl, so he was adamant on giving me everything I'd need to do that. So, I was building to resemble a completely normal human girl on the outside. I have all the equipment necessary for that, even sex organs complete with natural sensitivity. My 'internal plumbing' ends where the cervix would be, but you wouldn't know that I'm an android from having sex with me, if that's what you're asking."

"Totally fooled me," Ruby snickered, stealing a peck on her girlfriend's lips.

Yang grinned, "Would you short-circuit if a guy came inside you?"

"OKAY, that's enough of that," Pyrrha quickly interrupted. "If I may, Penny, can you explain a little more about how it works being an android who can generate an aura? I know it's not an easy question to answer."

Penny continued to smile, "Well, I'm not sure, exactly. From what I understand, I'm just as alive and aware as any of you. My memory is stored on hard-drives instead of in neurons, and my body is made of metal instead of muscle and bone, but I feel alive and conscious. Everything looks, sounds, feels, smells, and tastes like real people describe it. I have emotions, feelings, everything a real person has."

"Stop saying that," Ruby said, getting a confused look back from Penny. "Stop saying 'real' people. You are real, Penny. Like you just said, it doesn't matter what you're made of. You're alive, you have a soul! You're as real a person as anyone else at this table."

"Thank you, Ruby, but I'm afraid I just don't see it that way. It's hard to believe I'm not just a machine when the rest of the world assumes that I am. I want to be a real girl, and I feel like a real girl, but I'll just never be seen that way."

Neo shook her head, "Penny, don't listen to what anyone else says. Just because they don't understand and don't wanna see you for what you are doesn't mean that they're right. You're a real girl, Penny. You've been one since the day you were born."

"I don't know," Penny sighed, turning her gaze down to the table. "You even proved that I'm not in that last sentence. I wasn't born; I was made. I didn't have a childhood, I didn't experience my early teens, I never went through puberty... Evening about me is synthetic."

Ruby frowned and hugged her girlfriend as tightly as she could, "As far as I'm concerned, you're the realest girl I've met. I love you for you, and I always will. To me, you're perfect."

"I love you too, Ruby, and thank you," Penny smiled, blushing heavily. The tone of the table had finally returned to normal, maybe even happier than normal.

It wasn't until everyone had finished eating and gone back to their rooms that everyone finally settled back into semi-acceptable moods. Even though they'd received some terrible news today, there was a glimmer of hope that things could be better on the horizon. The evening had turned out to be everything they needed and more, and for the first time all week, they were hopeful. As night fell, it looked like their emotional rollercoaster of a day was over, but that turned out to not be the case.  
"Well, that was interesting," Neo chuckled as she, Emerald, and Penny arrived back in their room. "Penny, how do you and Ruby manage to be so damn cute all the time?"

The ginger girl blushed, "I guess we're both just cute people. So what're we doing for the rest of the night?"

Neo gave her answer by making a bee-line for the bathroom to be the first to shower. Right now, all she wanted was to lose herself in the hot water and get ready for bed, so she did exactly that. She took her time, but not so long that Emerald would complain about her using all the hot water.

' _What do you make of all this?_ ' Neo asked as she rinsed the shampoo from her hair and got ready to turn off the water.

Beo shook her head, ' _I wish I could say. Something is off, though, that's for sure. Is it me, or does Mercury going back set off some alarms for you too? I know he was conflicted and all, but I just can't believe that he'd go so far as to outright betray us after the only reason he was staying was to keep from hurting us. Regardless of if he was a double agent this whole time, I can say with one hundred percent certainty that he genuinely cared about us and Em. Whatever his reason for going back, I don't think he made it on his own, if he was even given the chance to make the choice himself._ '

' _Agreed,_ ' Neo replied, drying off and wrapping her hair up in a towel. ' _I just hope that whatever the reason, we'll be able to get everyone back unharmed._ ' She slipped into sport shorts and a tank top to sleep in, and let out a relieved sigh as she stepped out of the bathroom. The cool blast of air after leaving the sauna that she'd created inside always felt wonderful.

"All yours," Neo announced to Emerald, motioning to the doorway. "Do we have homework due tomorrow?"

Emerald shrugged, "Fucked if I know. Oh, by the way, you got something in the mail. I put it on your dresser."

"Really?" Neo asked, turning and spying the letter. She walked over and looked at the name on the return address, making a face when she didn't recognise it. "George and Winifred Banks. That's weird. I didn't know I had a bank account."

"Well, aren't you going to open it?" Penny cheerfully asked.

Neo smiled, "I'm glad you can stay so happy all the time. We really need that optimism around here." She started to rip open the top, but something else on the front of the envelope caught her eye first. Suddenly, it clicked in her head. "W-Wait... Beo... What were the-?"

' _Nailed it!_ ' Beo interrupted, laughing uncontrollably.

Neo completely froze, except for her hands. The letter slipped from between her fingers as they trembled, the shaking quickly spreading up her arms. Her mouth fell open, her eyes opened wide, and she could feel her legs going numb and getting ready to give out on her. The things going through her mind weren't full thoughts anymore, just raw, overwhelming feelings of excitement.

Emerald looked up, noticing that Neo hadn't moved, "Who'd you say it's from?"

Neo slowly turned to her teammate, a smile growing across her lips. She bent down and picked the letter back up, holding it at arm's length with both hands to admire it. "I-I don't believe it..." she whispered.

"Neo? What is it? Who sent it?"

"Beo was right," Neo giggled, pulling the envelope in and hugging it tightly to her chest.

 **Anyone see what I did there? (; Anyway, BIG NEWS! I put out a teaser for the book I'm writing! Yang described "Harbinger" perfectly, and if you'd like to learn more, there's a link to it under the "FAQ" section of my profile. I can't even tell you how excited I am to finally be working on it. Like, I've literally had this story in my head for years. I can't wait until I can show it to you. (;**

 **Oh, and I'm sure I'm gonna get yelled at for having Neo, Emerald, and Mercury have a different backstory than in the show. Remember that this isn't canon, and I established their history in this story before it was said in the show, so I'm sticking with that. In this universe, Neo, Emerald, and Mercury were raised by Cinder from when they were toddlers. Don't like it? Bite me. :p Neo's pregnant with Weiss' children, so a slightly different backstory shouldn't be that much harder to suspend your disbelief for.**


	9. Finding Yourself

**Hi guys! I'm so sorry that it's been so long. I feel like shit for not updating in almost two months. :( It's been a combination of depression, a new job, spreading myself out a little too thin, and making a ton of MASSIVE changes to the plot of this story. Like, I basically rewrote everything I had planned for A Neo Outlook III and half the ending to this story. I'll make some mentions of it when it comes up, and I'll probably make a more detailed thing for my . Anyway, again, I'm sorry about this. I'm probably gonna go on antidepressants in the near future. Just taking everything one day at a time right now. I'm okay, though, and I'm not going anywhere. I love you guys. Thank you for being patient and understanding and supportive of me and my writing. You have no idea how much it means to me. (: I think that's everything then. Oh, I dyed my hair pink. That was fun. XD There's a picture on my Facebook page if you wanna see. (It might be buried if you're reading this too long after June of 2016.) I'll stop here and let you guys get to reading. Enjoy!**

 **Oh, George and Winifred Banks are the mom and dad in Mary Poppins, and Neo's character is based on Mary Poppins. Just a nod to her character design, in case you didn't pick up on it. (;**

Chapter 9: Finding Yourself

"Neopolitan Banks..." Neo repeated for the tenth time, still staring in awe at the letter in her hands. She'd finally stopped shaking after close to half an hour, but her excitement hadn't died down at all. "Guys... Th-This... Is this really what I think it is?"

Team RWBY and JNPR had all crowded into her room after hearing her scream at the top of her lungs, and by now they'd realised what was happening. They were scattered around the room, with Neo sitting on her bed, and Weiss at her side.

The heiress smiled, leaning over and hugging her girlfriend, "It certainly looks like it, that's for sure. Are you going to open it?"

"Wait, wait," Emerald interjected. "This doesn't seem suspicious at all to you? We just talked about wanting to know your parents an hour ago, and suddenly you have a letter from them? What if Cinder's trying to capture you like she did Merc, Blake, Nora, and Coco?"

Yang rolled her eyes, "Relax, Em. If it was a trap, then Cinder did a hell of a job listening in and planting it so fast. Open it up, Neo. Let's see what they've got to say."

Neo didn't hesitate and quickly ripped the top of the envelope away. Her hands were quivering as she pulled out the letter, taking a moment to prepare herself. She had no idea what it would say, or if it was even real. She didn't want to get her hopes up only to have them torn down, but it was hard not to.

' _Good luck,_ ' Beo smiled in the back of her mind.

Neo carefully unfolded the paper and began to read it aloud, "Hello, Neopolitan. It's been far too long since we've seen you. When we saw you and your girlfriend in the news for your pregnancy, we knew that we'd finally found you. Clearly we have a lot to catch up on. I suppose we should first apologise for ever losing you. When you were born, your father and I weren't able to look after you properly, and put you up for adoption to give you a better life. We were heartbroken when you went missing, but now you're here again, and there's so much to talk about. We've left our number below, so please call us when you have the chance. We look forward to hearing your voice and seeing the amazing woman you've grown up to be. Love, mom and dad..."

There was a stillness as Neo finished reading and set the paper down in her lap. Everyone was processing what had been written, but in a good way. The words sounded genuine, and now it was up to Neo how to proceed. She was at a total loss for words as dozens of emotions clouded her head. Fear, excitement, and relief to name a few, all compounding and merging together to render her speechless.

Emerald started to smile, "I'm so happy for you, Neo. Are you gonna call them now?"

Neo didn't speak for a few moments, her eyes still intently fixed on the letter. Her mind was racing, but after a while she realised that someone had spoken to her. "Huh? Oh, u-um... I dunno..."

Pyrrha coked her head to the side, "What do you mean you don't know? Aren't you excited to meet them?" The rest of the room seemed to share in her confusion as well.

"Of course I am! It's just... I feel so weird about it... I've never even met them. What do I say? I-I've dreamed about this moment as long as I can remember, but now that it's here, I don't know what to do..."

"Really?" Ren asked, looking just as befuddled as everyone else. "Neo, you're not making any sense. You were so excited a moment ago. Don't get me wrong, I think a level of caution and scepticism is understandable, but why this sudden change? What's the real reason you don't want to call them?"

Neo looked around at all the faces around her and sighed, "I'm... I'm afraid they won't approve of me..."

"What do you mean?" Weiss asked, giving her girlfriend a peck on the cheek. "You're an amazing person, not to mention that you're basically a hero after what happened last year. What more could they expect from you?"

"It's not that. I have no idea how they feel about... well... anything! What if they don't approve of you? Of us? What if they're really homophobic? Then there's the fact that I'm an ex-criminal, a murderer... There's so much I have to tell them that they could reject me for. I'm afraid that... I'm afraid that after all this time, and finally being able to meet them, that I'm gonna lose them just as quickly..."

' _Quit being a baby,_ ' Beo jeered, not helping at all. ' _Sorry, sorry. But really? That's what you're afraid of? Clearly they don't care about you and Weiss if they mentioned her in the letter!_ '

' _I know..._ ' Neo replied, but she still wasn't convinced.

Yang shook her head, "I really doubt that'll be an issue. They haven't seen you in over a decade! I'm sure they'll just be happy to see you. Even if they don't approve of everything, they're still your parents. And, that said, maaaybe it couldn't hurt to leave some of the grittier details out for now."

"So what's the plan?" Weiss asked, not even entertaining the idea of this not going perfectly. "We'll go tomorrow?"

"Maybe," Neo replied. "I mean, we can always call- Wait, what? Go? As in go visit? How would we even do that? They gave me their phone number, not their address."

Weiss rolled her eyes and snatched the envelope from Neo, pointing to the top, left corner, "The return address is right here, Neo. I think going and seeing them face to face would be the best way to meet them for the first time."

"But we have an exam tomorrow. Two, actually, and we have plans with Jaune and Pyrrha Saturday."

"Then go Sunday," Ruby smiled. "I agree with Weiss on this. You should see them in person."

Neo looked around to see everyone smiling along with Ruby and nodding, and she couldn't stop herself from blushing. ' _We have the best friends, I hope you know that,_ ' Beo chuckled.

"Sunday..." Neo repeated, starting to giggle. "I'm meeting my parents on Sunday... I-I... Wow... I don't know what to do now. Should we still call them?"

"I'd make it a surprise," Pyrrha chimed in, and Neo seemed to like the idea as well.

"Then it's settled," Weiss beamed. "I'll book our plane tickets. I recognise the area code, and it's about a three-hour flight away. I think so, at least. It's definitely not close. Expect me to be waking you up pretty early on Sunday."

Next two days passed by as a blur as Neo could barely concentrate on anything. Her exams could've gone better, but she still did reasonably well. All she could think about was her parents and how this meeting would go. She was still terrified, but even so, she'd never been more excited for anything in her entire life. Her and Weiss' double date with Jaune and Pyrrha was about the only time that she snapped back to reality for any length of time, and finally, Sunday morning arrived.

"Rise and shine, love," Weiss giggled as she shook Neo awake, meeting a fair amount of resistance from the girl. "Come on! We have to be at the airport in an hour! I let you sleep in as much as I could. Hey, shouldn't you be excited? You're meeting your parents today! Get up!"

"Bite me," Neo mumbled into her pillow. Weiss shrugged and did as she was told, nipping at Neo's neck. Neo blushed and laughed, and rolled over so that she could give Weiss a kiss.

"Where's Mercury when you need him?" Emerald suddenly grumbled from her bed. "I'm not ready for sarcasm this early. Get a room, you two."

Neo smirked, "This one we're in seems pretty nice. Alright, alright, I'm getting up."

Neo took a quick shower, got dressed, and packed a small bag for the afternoon before dancing her way out of the dorms. She was walking on air now that today had finally come. It was a beautiful day, solidifying her mood even further, and it didn't seem like anything would be able to dampen her spirits. She and Weiss took the airship from campus to the Vale International Airport and got through security without any hastle. Weiss' status always came in handy at times like this.

"Okay, we board in fifteen minutes," Weiss said as she sat down at their gate and looked over their tickets. "Are you ready?"

"Ready as I'll ever be," Neo cheerfully replied, but inside she wasn't nearly so positive.

' _Still afraid, huh?_ ' Beo asked, trying not to sound too condescending.

' _Shut up,_ ' Neo growled. ' _Yes, I'm fucking terrified. Happy now?_ '

' _Okay, okay, I'm sorry. I just don't see why you'd be so scared. You know that they'll love you, that clearly all they want is to see you. Set your fear aside, cuz you're not gonna need it. Be happy! Today's the big day!_ '

Neo chuckled to herself, ' _Thanks, Beo. I knew I kept you around for a reason. Hey, do you wanna come out and meet them?_ '

' _That sounds like a bad idea,_ ' Beo laughed. ' _I'll say hi eventually, but I think it'd be better to have them meet one daughter at a time._ '

The flight boarded and departed on time, and Neo could feel her anticipation rising every time she looked out the window. Every town and neighbourhood she could pick out from the plane made her imagine more and more about what her parent's house would look like, and she couldn't stop herself from smiling. The announcement from the pilot that they were beginning their descent sent her mind into overdrive as it truly hit her that this was happening. She had to reach for the air sickness bag because she thought she was going to throw up from how ecstatic she was, but luckily the feeling passed.

The plane landed, and Neo and Weiss hurried straight outside since they hadn't brought any luggage that couldn't be carried on. Weiss had arranged for a car to pick them up and drive them, and as the destination address was punched into the GPS, Neo didn't think she would be able to handle her own emotions. She snuggled up against Weiss for most of the ride, clinging tightly to the heiress' arm and not wanting to let go. It wasn't until the driver mentioned they were close that she released her grip and cautiously looked outside.

The car pulled into the development, and Neo stared out the window to get a sense of where they were. The houses looked fairly nice, not anything crazy expensive but certainly above average. Nice yards, children playing, it seemed like a nice area. They pulled into the driveway of one house off the main street, and Neo's heart skipped a beat when she saw the name 'Banks' on the mailbox. Weiss thanked and paid the driver, and after more than a few calming breaths, Neo worked up the courage to ring the doorbell.

"Hello?" a man asked as he opened the door, and a wide smile spread across Neo's lips. He had brown hair, the same shade as hers, and his eyes were split just like hers; one was brown, and the other green. "How can I help you girls?"

"Who is it, George?" a woman asked from the living room, then came over to join her husband. She had green eyes and long hair that was split just like Neo's, only hers was half pink and half mint green. Her cat ears twitched when she laid eyes on Neo, and she made the connection immediately. That, and Neo was sure her picture would've been in at least one of the articles her parents had read.

Neo couldn't stop herself from stuttering, "H-Hi, mom... Hi, dad..."

There was a short pause as they stared at each other, taking in the magnitude of just what was happening. Neo was too excited to speak, and her parents had been rendered speechless. That didn't last long, though, and Neo and Weiss were both soon wrapped in a tight hug. A few tears rolled down her parents' cheeks out of sheer joy.

"Oh my God," her mother whispered, eventually calming down enough to talk again. "I-I can't believe it... We thought we'd never see you again..."

Neo smiled, "If there's one thing I've learned, it's that there's always a second chance."

They finally separated, and Winifred quickly ushered the girls into the living room. She ran to the kitchen to bring out glasses of water, as well as offering them snacks or anything else after their flight here. They both declined, and the four of them settled in for the reunion that Neo had been dreaming of her entire life. She and Weiss sat on one sofa, adjacent to another where her parents had sat down.

"I never thought this day would come," Winifred said with a delighted smile. "So, Neopolitan, is this your girlfriend?"

Neo nodded, "Just call me Neo. And yes, this is Weiss."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Weiss. How long have you two been together? Oh my, we really do have a lot to catch up on. Is there anywhere you'd like to start?"

Weiss had to think for a moment, "Next week is, what, nine months? Neo?"

Neo didn't respond; she was too deep in thought. There were so many questions Neo had, and so many things she wanted to tell, but there was one burning question she had above the others. "So..." she began. "What happened?"

Her father glanced at her mother before letting out a sigh, "I suppose that's as valid a place as any. You see, when you were born, your mother and I were in a very bad place, financially. We could barely make our ends meet, and at times we couldn't, and we knew that taking care of you would require more than we were able to provide. We looked after you for the first year of your life, but that was all we could manage."

"It wasn't an easy decision for us," her mother continued. "We didn't want to give you up, but you deserved a better life than we could give you. When we gave you to an orphanage, we hoped that you'd find a family within a month. A year passed with nothing, but it wasn't all bad news yet. Your father got a promotion and I picked up a new job, and it looked like we'd be able to take you back. And then..."

"And then you went missing. Your mother and I were heartbroken, and we held out hope that they'd find you. I'm sorry for what we put you through, Neo, and I hope that you can forgive us.

"Forgive you?" Neo asked, smiling. "I was never upset with you. You did what you had to, and there's nothing more I could've asked for. I guess it's time for me to fill you in now, huh? Alright, let's see... Oh... I... I should warn you guys, not all of it's pretty. There's a lot of bad stuff I've done..."

Her mother gave a soft smile, "You're our daughter, Neo. There's nothing you could've done that wouldn't make us proud."

Neo exchanged a look with Weiss, both of them chuckling a bit from what they knew, and Neo started from the beginning. She talked about how she was raised by Cinder and Roman, along with Emerald and Mercury. She talked about her childhood, where she lived, what they did, all of it. When it came time to talk about her late teens, when she got started actually working as a part of Cinder's operations, she was very careful on how she phrased things. The message was the same, regardless, but she felt like she needed to soften just how dark the things she'd done were.

It took a while to get through it all, but eventually she navigated to when Blake and Yang found her after Cinder threw her out. From there it was a might brighter tale, one that she was glad to share. Enrolling at Beacon, meeting Weiss and the rest of her friends, starting her relationship, things she was more than happy to talk about. Even when she arrived at the Vytal Festival and what happened then, it still had a happy ending.

"That reminds me," Weiss interrupted as Neo was talking about taking second place in the tournament. "How did you not see her then? We were in headlines everywhere as the kids who had saved the festival, and her even more for taking second place."

"Well, we didn't really follow it," Winifred replied. "It was a bit of an emotional time because we knew that she would've been old enough to be in the tournament. You have to understand, fifteen years had passed since she went missing, and we had no choice but to assume the worst. Now that I think about it, I do remember seeing your name in the headlines at one point, but I didn't think much of it."

"How could you not?" Neo asked.

Her father chuckled, "You're not the only person with a name that can be shortened to Neo. It was nowhere in our minds to think that you were alive, so it just sort of went unnoticed. Of course, we're both very unhappy with ourselves for not at least looking at it then."

"Anyway, continue," her mother said.

Neo nodded and picked up where she'd left off. Next came her being the leader of her team, her and Weiss' vacation home to talk to the heiress' mother, summer vacation, and finally the start of this year. She explained the initiation that had almost taken Weiss' life, the aura donation she performed, and how she got pregnant. Her parents had followed the story fairly well up to this point, and she couldn't help herself from laughing when she saw that she was losing them a bit.

It took a bit more time, but she eventually got past her miracle pregnancy and onto what else had been happening. There wasn't much more to explain from there apart from Cinder's new venture and her missing friends, and with that, she'd arrived at the end of her tale. Nearly an hour and a half had passed now between her talking and all of the questions her parents had had, but it was all out now.

Neo looked incredibly guilty as she looked back and forth between her parents, "So... I guess that's everything... God, I feel horrible... You've been waiting so long to meet me, and I have to sit here and tell you that I'm an ex-criminal, a thief, a mu- and... and... I dunno... I dunno what to say now, or what I'd even expect you to say to me. I'm sorry..."

She purposefully stopped herself from saying murderer, wondering if it was a little too early to reveal something if that nature. As much as she wanted to open herself up and tell all there was to tell, that seemed like a little too big of a shock right now. Parents or not, she knew there were things that needed to be left out.

"Sorry?" her father asked, not seeming to understand. "Neo, your mother and I don't care about any of that. We care that you're alive, that you're safe, and that you're happy. Yes, there are things about your past that will certainly take some time to accept, but you're our little girl. You'll always be perfect in our eyes."

"R-Really?" Neo said as a tear came to her eye.

"Of course," her mother proudly replied. "Our daughter is a Huntress, a hero! You have the life now that we dreamed of being able to give you. I couldn't be more proud of you."

Neo sniffled as she wiped her eyes, "Th-Thank you. You don't know how much I've wanted to hear you say that. So, you're okay with who I am, then? That I'm gay, pregnant, all of it?"

"Well, we invited you here knowing that you were," her father laughed. "That should've some indication, I would hope. We don't care if you're straight, gay, bi, trans, or anything else. You're our daughter, and we'll always love you. Above anything and everything else, we're just happy to have you back."

"As for being pregnant," her mother added, looking just as jovial as her husband. "I could never be upset with being told that I'll have twice as many grandchildren."

"Twice as many?" Weiss asked, noticing that something didn't add up.

"Well, yes," George answered, looking at Neo. "Assuming your sister has kids of her own some day."

Neo's eyes suddenly shot open wide, "I-I... I have a sister?" Her eyes darted around the room, looking for one things in particular, and didn't take long to find what she was looking for. She hadn't paid much attention to the details of the house and decorations until that point, but now that family portraits and school pictures stood out as if they were illuminated. Her parents gasped, realising that in the excitement of their reunion, there was one member of the family they'd left out.

Winifred reached over and grabbed a picture frame from the coffee table and handed it to Neo, "Yes, you do. Mint turned fourteen just a month ago. She's enrolled at Signal Academy."

Neo stared at the picture in awe, feeling a new warmth spreading through her body. It was strange, since she did see Emerald as a sister, but there was a connection she felt at the moment her eyes fell on Mint's face. The girl had long, mint-green hair that was up in a braid, and a cat tail with the same color fur. She was standing beside a large tree in the picture with two short swords on her back, wearing a long-sleeved shirt, green shoulder pads, a leather harness and belt, and skinny jeans.

"She kinda reminds me of Ruby," Neo said, looking to Weiss to see if she agreed. "Like, with sharper cheekbones and a longer face."

Weiss looked at the picture for a moment and shrugged, "I can't disagree. So she's also training to be a Huntress?"

"That's right," George happily replied. "She'll be ecstatic to hear about all of this. We've told her about you, and she's always wanted a big sister. Will you be able to visit again over winter break? She'll be home then."

"Of course I can!" Neo enthusiastically exclaimed. "Weiss and I have plans to stay with her family, but we can definitely come here first! Maybe Mint could even come with us?"

Weiss snickered and rolled her eyes, "Sure, because that will go over well. You know that my family is still incredibly racist, right? If he knew your mother is a Faunus, there's not a chance in the world he would've let me date you. We might want to ease into this one."

"Understandable," Winifred replied, the idea of someone not being accepting of her not being a new concept. "I do, however, wonder how he'd react if one of your children is a Faunus."

"They can't be...?" Neo said, confused, although it sounded more like a question than a statement.

"Well, it is possible. I'm a Faunus, so you're a carrier of the Faunus expression gene since it's recessive. If Weiss is also a carrier, then there's a chance once of your children will have Faunus traits."

"I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I'm not," Weiss began. "I can say for a fact that I'm not. There's no Faunus blood on my father's side, and he wouldn't have married my mom if there was any on her side."

Neo frowned, "Aww... You had me all excited! I wanted our kids to have cute kitty ears and tails!"

The rest of the evening was spent talking in more detail about some of the bigger topics Neo had brought up. Her past, her children, the events at Vytal Festival, all the major points in her life. Her mom made chicken for dinner and the discussions kept going for hours, but it unfortunately had to come to an end. She and Weiss still had class tomorrow, and their flight home was scheduled to leave in two hours. Neo didn't want to leave, and was in tears as she said goodbye to her parents. She promised to call them every week, and finally she couldn't fight it anymore and had to get in the cab back to the airport.

Neo waved goodbye until her parents were out of sight, then slumped over into Weiss' lap. "I can't. Weiss, I can't..." she said, smiling from ear to ear. "Oh my God, I can't even- I mean, I- GAHH! THAT WAS EVERYTHING I EVER DREAMED IT WOULD BE! I MET MY PARENTS! I HAVE A SISTER! AHHHHH!"

Weiss laughed and stroked her girlfriend's hair, "I'm glad you had a good time. Your parents seem like wonderful people, and I can't wait to see them again in the future. And see? I told you they'd love you no matter what."

"I know, I know, but it's still nerve-wracking. I just... Damn, I'm still all shaky and tingly. Are you sure we can't stay the night? Absolutely sure?"

"We have class tomorrow," Weiss reminded her. "We'll see them again soon, though. I promise. Winter break is only two weeks away, so we can come spend a weekend here before we go to my house. Sound like a plan?"

Neo gave a content smile and a nod, closing her eyes and nuzzling into Weiss' lap. She was exhausted now that all of her excitement and adrenaline had worn off. She dozed off in the car, and again on the plane, both times dreaming about herself with her parents. Without a doubt, it had been the greatest day of her life.

 **Okay guys, next chapter is gonna be one hell of a ride, so I hope you're ready. Things have been going a little too well so far, don't you think? Sorry that this chapter is a little shorter than usual, but I really wanted to get something out with how long the break has been.**

 **As always, please leave a review, favourite, follow, and visit my page if you wanna help support me. Never required, but always appreciated. (:**


	10. Sacrifice and Redemption

**For those of you who saw the other posts I've made, I finally talked to my doctor and got help for my depression. I'm on medication, and I'm a month clean of suicidal actions. I've relapsed a few times with self harm, but I'm trying to stop. It's been a hard month, but I'm still here. I'm not going anywhere anytime soon. Here's to getting better. (:**

 **Now then, onto the chapter I've been hyping up so much. Let's see if you think it was worth the wait.**

Chapter 10: Sacrifice and Redemption

"Any news?" Emerald asked, the fear in her voice painfully evident. It was the afternoon after Neo visited her parents, and while it was a nice break from what had being going on, it wasn't an escape.

Team RWBY, JNPR, NEMP, and CFVY were all gathered outside of Ozpin's office. It'd been so long since their teammates, their friends, had been kidnapped, and they were desperate to hear some good news about the ongoing investigation. The three present team leaders had gone up to ask for an update, and as they returned, their anxious teammates jumped to their feet and stared with hopeful eyes.

Ruby sighed and shook her head, "They're gonna continue the search for another week, but after that, Professor Ozpin said that the police won't be able to keep it going. After that, all we can hope for is that the military finds Cinder, and that our friends are with her."

The news was devastating to hear, turning everyone's optimistic faces to exactly the opposite. None of them had expected good news, but they'd been dreading exactly this. Even though it was inevitable it would happen eventually, that didn't mean they were prepared to accept it.

"Then it's on us," Yang said, looking around her. "We're gonna find our friends and rescue them ourselves. Who's with me?"

"I'm in," Velvet agreed, giving her bag a light pat. The consensus of the group seemed to be the same, but one of them spoke up as the voice of reason.

"How?" Weiss asked. "We have no leads, no direction, nothing. I want to get them back as much as the rest of you, but this isn't the time to be irrational."

The heiress received a few angry glares, but she was still right. Tensions had been high lately, and it was incredible that nobody had done anything irrational up to this point. Team CFVY decided this was a good point to leave and headed out, leaving the remaining three teams to fight it out.

"Well what do you expect us to do?" Pyrrha demanded, throwing her arms up in frustration.

She was normally very level-headed, but these last few weeks had taken their toll on her. It'd gone as far as her and Emerald getting into a fight while Neo was visiting her parents, and the resentment still lingered today. Emerald's constant defense of Mercury had pushed her over the edge. Jaune quickly moved to her side and started to rub her shoulders to soothe her, but the question on everyone's minds was out now.

Neo sighed, "I agree with both of you. I agree that we shouldn't just sit around and hope something turns up, but what can we do?"

"Something! Anything!" Emerald exclaimed. "It's been weeks! Can you imagine what Cinder's been doing to them for that long? I'll turn this entire fucking kingdom upside down if I have to, but I'm gonna find them!"

"And Mercury?" Ren asked in his normal, neutral voice.

"I'm gonna demand an answer from him, but I'm still not ruling out the possibility that he wasn't acting on his own free will. I know you all doubt him, but-"

"Oh shut up," Pyrrha growled, starting to lose her cool. "He's a backstabbing traitor. You're the only one who refuses to accept it."

"HEY! Don't talk about him like that!" Emerald yelled back, taking a step toward Pyrrha.

Pyrrha scowled and clenched her fists, "Or what, bitch?"

Emerald screamed and lunged, as did Pyrrha, but neither one of them made contact before someone intervened.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Weiss yelled as she made glyphs to freeze both attacking girls up to the waist. "What's fighting amongst ourselves gonna solve, huh? Pyrrha, we don't know that Mercury betrayed us. Emerald, I know you want to defend him, but ease back a little. Can we all please try to calm down?"

Neo nodded in agreement, "I think we all need some time to unwind. I say that couples should have quiet date nights tonight, and then tomorrow, we'll reconvene at lunch and make a plan for how to find our friends. Sound good?"

Emerald and Pyrrha had spent that entire time trying to claw themselves free from their icy prisons, and they begrudgingly nodded as Neo finished. Weiss released them both, and after exchanging a quick, angry glance, the two girls hugged to make up. They all paired off with their respective partners, ready to go with Neo's idea, but there was one slight problem.

"What about Ren?" Jaune asked. He was the only one present whose partner wasn't.

Ren shrugged, "I'm happy to spend the day doing some quiet meditating. I could really use it."

"Then it's settled," Yang smiled, taking Emerald's hand. "Oh, and no more fighting? Please?"

"She started it," Emerald grumbled under her breath.

Neo rolled her eyes, "And we're finishing it. The next people in a fight are cleaning all three dorm rooms top to bottom. Is that enough of an incentive to behave?"

"I will if she will," Pyrrha replied, earning an angry glare from Jaune. "Alright, alright. I'll behave. Sorry I called you a bitch, Emerald..."

"And I'm sorry that you are one," the green-haired girl said with a smug grin. "Kidding, kidding. I forgive you, and I'm sorry I jumped at you."

"DATE TIME!" Yang exclaimed as Pyrrha went to say something in response, and pulled Emerald off and away from the group. "See you guys tomorrow!"

Weiss smiled and shook her head as the two disappeared out of sight, "We have the weirdest friends... Alright, let's get going. Neo, what do you want to do today?"

"Umm... Get ice cream?" Neo innocently suggested as she and her girlfriend started walking away. "Maybe a burrito or something, too?"

"We just had lunch! How can you still be hungry?"

Neo giggled and put her hand on her large stomach, "I'm eating for three, remember? I'm always hungry."

"Fair enough," Weiss laughed, and gave a warm smile as she held Neo's hand.

The girls got on an airship into town and took their time walking between a few different places for Neo to eat. She got her ice cream, her burrito, a jar of sweet pickles and some licorice from the grocery store, and finished it all off with a funnel cake. Weiss did her best to not laugh the entire time, but she couldn't hide her amusement. Neo's pregnancy cravings were comical for someone as tiny as her.

"That hit the spot," Neo smiled as she and Weiss sat down on a bench for a short break. She leant her head on Weiss' shoulder for a moment, then suddenly sat up and let out a booming burp. She turned bright red as she shyly turned to Weiss, who was clutching her sides from how hard she was laughing. "Umm... Oops. Excuse me."  
Weiss took a moment to compose herself, then looked back at Neo with a grin, "I love you so much."

"Even when I'm loud and gross and annoying?"

"Especially then," Weiss answered, planting a soft kiss on her girlfriend's cheek. "So what should we do now? That is, assuming you've finally had enough to eat."

Neo stuck her tongue out, "Yes, I'm done eating. For now. We could go to that arcade a few blocks down the road. Grab dinner afterwards and then maybe go for a walk?"

"That sounds lovely. Although, if I remember correctly, you and I never settled our bet from the last time we were at the arcade."

"I guess we didn't," Neo smirked, standing up. "Time to show you who's queen of the claw machine."

The girls raced to the arcade as fast as Neo's stomach would allow her, and after Weiss turned fifty Lien into quarters for them to use, they both ran to the claw machines to see who would be the first to win. Neo took the victory after only a few minutes, and added insult to injury by winning two prizes in one grab; a plushie kitten and fox. Weiss huffed and pouted, but her attitude turned around when Neo gave her the fox.

They spent the rest of the afternoon going around the arcade and playing just about every game they had, earning a very considerable number of tickets. They brought them all to the prize counter and were told they had almost forty-five thousand tickets to spend, which they exchanged for a few more stuffed animals and about twenty cheap, assorted toys and candies.

As the winner for the claw machine bet, Neo chose where they'd be eating dinner, and went with a local restaurant famous for its chicken wings and hot sauces. They both ordered wings, but Weiss was much less adventurous with her level of spice. She went with a very mild, honey barbecue, while Neo decided to push her limits and ordered the hottest sauce they had on the menu. As it turned out, eating a dozen wings with that sauce was actually a challenge, and she was given a waiver to sign before they put the order in so she couldn't sue them if the sauce sent her to the hospital.

"You're insane," Weiss said as their food was brought out. "This is gonna be another date night that ends with one of us in the emergency room."

Neo grinned and picked up one of her wings, "Well, it's not gonna be me. Besides, how hot can they be?"

Neo ate her words the moment the wing touched her lips and tongue, instantly sweating and turning red. She finished the wing and swallowed, coughing a little and having to finish her entire glass of water to stop the burning. She was panting when she looked over to see Weiss' face and, as expected, she wore an amused smile.

"Too hot for you?" the heiress toyingly asked. "You can always have some of mine if you want."

"You wish, princess," Neo replied with a stubborn glare, and tore into her next wing.

Several glasses of milk later, Neo finished her twelfth wing and was given a t-shirt for completing the challenge, as well as getting a stunned stare from Weiss. Her mouth, lips, and throat were on fire, but she'd finished her food, and that was all that mattered.

"You're still nuts," Weiss commented as they left the restaurant and and started their walk. "You're going to dearly regret that the next time you go to the bathroom."

It had gotten dark out now, and the girls were walking down a section of the street that wasn't particularly well lit. There weren't many people out, but neither of them seemed to notice.

"True, but I still did it when you thought I couldn't. Totally worth it."

"You're a goofball."

"But I'm yoooour goofball," Neo sang, nuzzling up against Weiss' arm. "And you wouldn't have it any other way, right?"

The heiress rolled her eyes, "You're absolutely my goofball. Forever and ev-"

Weiss suddenly stopped walking and held out her arm to stop Neo as well. Her eyes narrowed, fixating on a spot about twenty yards ahead and to the left. Neo opened her mouth to ask what was wrong, but was stopped before she had the chance. Weiss' hand very slowly moved toward the hilt of her sword, and in one swift, fluid motion, she drew the blade and formed a yellow glyph on the ground where she'd been staring.

Light pulsed from the rune, revealing a boy in dark clothes from within the shadows. Neo only had a split second to look at him before he dashed back into the darkness and disappeared again, but she could instantly tell who he was. The robotic arm, leg, and eye were too distinct to miss.

"It's Tusk," Neo gasped, taking a step closer to Weiss.

The heiress nodded, scanning their surroundings for any sign of the boy, "Can you fight?"

"Not well, but I can try if I have to. I think we should run."

' _Five o'clock!_ ' Beo suddenly shouted.

Neo swiftly open her parasol and moved it to block the direction she'd been given, just in time to shield Weiss from a hail of bullets. Both girls spun around to see Tusk appear from the darkness and charge toward them. Weiss raised her rapier and dashed forward to meet him.

"You'd try to kill a pregnant woman?" Weiss furiously asked as her blade met with Tusk's katana.

The boy smirked, disengaging and leaping back, "Not at all. We need her alive. You're the one that we don't need."

"Need me alive for what?" Neo asked, confused.

"You'll see soon enough," Tusk chucked, raising his sword. "Gimme a minute to kill your girlfriend and I'll-"

Weiss didn't wait for him to finish, and made a massive glyph behind her. From the blue rune, a giant, armoured soldier stepped out and raised its greatsword, ready to strike. Tusk flinched back, taken completely by surprise, and now it was Weiss' turn to grin.

"Whoa," Neo said in awe. "Since when did have you been able to fully summon that?"

The heiress continued to smirk, "I've been practicing. Now, Tusk, I've got a message for you to take back to Cinder; If you want to take anyone else, especially Neo, you'll have to go through me."

The summoned armour lifted its sword and brought it down in a huge sec to where Tusk was standing. The boy rolled out of the way and got back to his feet to fight back, but he could see that it wasn't going to be as easy as expected. He very quickly weighed his options, then turned and ran, fading into the shadows.

"Keep your eyes open," Neo said as she watched the boy run. "He'll probably be back."

Weiss shook her head and dismissed her summon, "Doubtful. It looked like he was only prepared for an ambush. We should go back to Beacon, though. Fast."

Neo was inclined to agree, but she still had every intention of watching her back along the way. As she turned to start walking, her gaze passed over something where Tusk had last been standing, and it made her gasp.

"His scroll," she said, pointing to the device on the ground. She ran over and picked it up, and brought her hand to her cover her mouth when she went to open it.

"What's wrong?" Weiss asked, moving to Neo's side so she could see the screen as well. She also gasped when she saw that the background was a selfie of Mercury and Scarlet.

"It's Mercury's..." Neo whispered. "Shit, what's his password? It's something to do with- OH! Duh."

She typed Scarlet's name in, and the scroll unlocked and opened to Mercury's text messages. Specifically, it opened to his and Neo's conversions, with a half-finished message that he hadn't sent.

"Come quick," Weiss read out loud. "We need help."

Neo's eyes grew wide, "Oh my God... Weiss, do you know what this means? Mercury might not have betrayed us after all. He was trying to call me for help! They must've found out before he could send it."

"We need to get back to Beacon. Now," Weiss repeated, even more urgently than before. Neo made no argument, and the girls starting sprinting back to campus.

* * *

"I still think it's a trap," Pyrrha sighed. Neo and Weiss had gathered their teams in team RWBY's room to show them they found and explain what had happened, and it came across with mixed feelings from everyone.

Yang shook her head, "I doubt it. It doesn't sound like Tusk had any intention other than to leave with Neo. The question is why?"

"Revenge?" Neo shrugged. "Blackmail? Torture? All of the above? Regardless, we need to figure out where Mercury was when he was typing this. Is there any way to find out?"

"Yes and no," Ren answered. "Scrolls have a frequent location feature that tracks every time you use location services. If he has it enabled, we'll probably be able to see where we was when he turned his scroll back on."

He picked up the scroll and started tapping to the settings pages until he arrived at what he'd been talking about, and opened up a map that showed a bunch of purple dots where Mercury had had his scroll. Most of them were pretty unassuming; campus, various places around the city, but there were a few outliers. Scrolling through them in a list view, one stuck out above all others, which was a single point that was far outside of the city.

"Mountain Glenn?" Ruby asked. "The abandoned city we found Roman and the train under?"

Weiss' eyes narrowed, "I shouldn't be surprised. Look at this; if you zoom in, the point is at the entrance of a warehouse that's built into one of the surrounding mountains. If they'd had their operation going out of there before, it wouldn't surprise me if they had others in the area as well. I'd bet you anything that's where our friends are, and probably where Roman and Cinder are as well."

"Well what're we waiting for?" Emerald asked. "Let's go! We need to-"

"Slow down!" Jaune interrupted. "We can't just go running in there, especially you. You're under watch, remember?"

"So what? We should go to Ozpin right now and tell him what we found! We can go with the police and get everyone out!"

Penny shook her head, "You know it won't be that simple. Whatever we do has to be stealthy. If police or military get sent in, we're just putting everyone in even more danger."

"Agreed," Pyrrha added. "If we're really going to go there, we need a small team. I think I should be on it."

"Me too," Ruby nodded. "Ren, you're pretty stealthy. I think... Yang? We'll need a contingency plan if things go wrong."

Her sister grinned, "I'm down with that. So it's me, you, Pyrrha, and Ren. Y-R-P-R... Ooo, I've got it! Team RYPR! Reaper! I love it!"

"I still think I should go," Emerald huffed, crossing her arms.

"Yeah, well, you'll just get us busted. When do you guys think we should head out?"

"Now," Ren replied. "We can use the cover of night to help us get in and out undetected."

Pyrrha checked the time on her scroll, "It's almost nine o'clock. How do you propose we get there?"

"Steal a ship?" Yang suggested. "No, no, we'd definitely get caught... I can take one person on Bumblebee if the other two have something they can use."

Weiss chuckled, "I can just rent you guys a car if you want. Here, I'll just do that. Do me a favour and make sure it doesn't get destroyed."

"Make it a minivan," Ruby instructed. "We'll have eight people on the way back."

"Got it. I put it under Yang's name at the rental car place by the airport. Be safe, guys."

Team RYPR gathered their weapons and supplies and hugged everyone goodbye, then hurried out of the dorm to pick up their car. The rest of the group sat quietly for a moment, trying to figure out what to do with themselves until their friends got back. They knew they'd be able to text them until they arrived in Mountain Glenn, but the waiting was going to be torturous.

' _You're really gonna stay behind?_ ' Beo asked, laughing because she already knew what Neo was planning.

Neo grinned, ' _You know I'm not._ '

"I need some air," Neo said, walking to the door.

Weiss stood up and started to follow her, "Do you want me to come with you?"

"No, I just wanna clear my head. I'll be back in a little bit."

"Be safe," Emerald smiled. "Pick me up a soda on your way back?"

"'People like Grapes', right?" Neo asked, getting a nod in response. "You got it."

She walked into the hallway and closed the door, then took off running to catch up with the four that had already left. She stayed far enough behind them that they wouldn't notice her, and used her semblance to teleport onto the airship with them without being seen. She did the same when they landed and followed them to the rental car, and used her semblance again to teleport into the trunk. She poked her head up over the back seats as everyone got in and smiled to herself.

' _Weiss is gonna murder me,_ ' she thought, looking down at her scroll to see if she had any new messages. Thankfully, she didn't.

' _Without a doubt,_ ' Beo giggled. ' _But hey, when's that ever stopped you?_ '

Yang sped off toward the highway and floored it once they were on the open road. It wasn't the most pleasant ride for Neo, but she'd rode in much worse conditions before. It wasn't long before Weiss texted her to see what was taking so long, and not much longer to realise what Neo had done. There wasn't much Weiss could do now to stop her, and it wasn't until team RYPR pulled off the highway and got out to walk the rest of the way that they found out about their stowaway.

"ARE YOU INSANE?" Yang screamed after Neo opened the trunk and showed herself. "You could've been hurt! You could get us caught! And how the fuck is a pregnant girl stealthy in any way, shape, or form? What were you thinking?"

"Just wait in the van," Pyrrha sighed. "We'll be back before too long."

Neo shook her head, "Not happening. I'm coming with you. My illusions and teleporting will be super useful."

"I hate you," Yang groaned, putting her head in her hands. "Just... Just be careful, okay? I'm not taking responsibility if something happens to you."

It was about an hour trek from the highway to Mountain Glenn, but the terrain was mostly flat. Moving through such a heavily forested area at night was scary, and the sounds of Grimm seemed to come from every direction, but somehow they didn't encounter any. It seemed almost too good to be true, which brought everyone's guard up even more as they neared the abandoned city.

"There it is," Pyrrha breathed as the ruins came into view.

Ruby sighed, "I really hoped I wouldn't have to come back here. It's such a sad place..."

"Focus. Look, you can see the facility over in the mountain there. We're really close."

The light of the full moon was just enough to see by as the traversed the rocky mountain slope that led up to the warehouse. The building didn't particularly stand out from the others, but the closer they got, the more they could see that it wasn't as abandoned as it seemed. All of the windows were in perfect condition, none of the cracks in the walls seemed to be anywhere that would make them unsound, and there was a very faint glow of light that was visible through certain windows.

"Let's get to the roof," Neo suggested. "There were skylights when we looked on the map earlier. I bet that'd be an easy way inside."

They made their way up the mountain a little further to where the roof was built into it, and carefully moved to the large windows. Black paper had been plastered over them from the inside, but there were tiny gaps where light could show through. Yang pressed her ear to the glass and confirmed that there was noise coming from inside, and Neo felt a sudden twinge of both joy and fear. If their friends were still alive, this is where they'd be.

"What's the plan?" she asked. "Do you think we can crack the window to get a good look inside?"

"Allow me," Pyrrha replied as she held out her hand. A black glow surrounded her fingertips, and the metal of the frame silently peeled away from the hinge. She very carefully lifted the window up just enough out of the frame and shifted it about an inch to the side so they could peer past it.

"Oh my God..." Neo gasped as she laid eyes on the inside of the building. Hundreds of shipping crates of dust, weapons, and so much more lined the open area, with White Fang guards walking around and moving crates and standing watch. Several doors led deeper into the mountain, each with a sign above that she guessed was a label, but she was too far to read them. "We need to get closer."

Yang nodded, "Neo, can you teleport us onto the rafters? Do it one by one."

Neo agreed and very carefully teleported each member of the group inside. She was exhausted afterwards, but they were one step closer to freeing their friends. That was the easy part, though, and what would come next would be much trickier. The crept along in the shadowed part of the scaffolding until they were overlooking the doors had spotted.

"We've got three options," Ren whispered, squinting to read the signs. "Laboratory, holdings cells, and-"

"Holding cells," Ruby interrupted. "How do we get down there?"

"I have an idea," Pyrrha ventured.

She held out her arm again to use her semblance, this time targeting one of the fire alarms on the opposite side of the open room. She forced the lever down and set off the alarm, making all the guards below them run to the front doors to see what was going on. The doors to the holdings cells and other areas opened as White Fang members ran out, and once they had stopped, the group quickly climbed down and dashed toward the holding cells.

The hallway wasn't totally clear, though, and they met three guards running directly toward them on their way. The guards were taken completely by surprise and the group pounced on them, and were knocked out and hidden before continuing. The alarm turned off soon after, but that didn't matter as they rounded a corner and found themselves in a large room full of prison cells made of iron bars. Neo's eyes lit up as they fixated on four people in one cell on her right.

"GUYS!" she exclaimed, running to the cell door.

Blake, Nora, Coco, and Mercury all looked up, and never before had Neo seen such a look of happiness and relief on any of their faces. None of them appeared to be seriously hurt, but they were all wearing a sort of metal collar around their necks. There was something else, though; three of them had dust crystals implanted in their skin. Blake had purple crystals in her upper arms, Coco had red ones in her forearms, and Nora had yellow ones in her shoulders.

"YOU FOUND US!" Blake exclaimed, excitedly jumping to her feet. "How?"

Pyrrha used her semblance to tear the bars away and free the four captives, and they all came together into a tight group hug. Neo smiled, "We found Mercury's scroll. Tusk dropped it after he tried to ambush me and Weiss, and we saw the message he tried to send. Ren did something with location services to find this place."

"Speaking of Mercury," Yang interjected, turning her attention to the silver-haired boy. "What the fuck happened?"

Mercury sighed as the group hug came apart, "The night that Tusk and Lexy came to kidnap these guys, I tried to stop them. Convince them it wasn't a good time to do it, whatever. The thing is-"

"You're a really shitty liar?" Ruby asked with a smirk.

"Bingo. They kinda figured out I was a spy and forced me to help them kidnap the others. I didn't want to, believe me. I tried my hardest to stop them, but I wasn't in any shape to fight them both after sparring all evening."

Coco rolled her eyes, "He also hasn't stopped apologising since we got in here. Fucking annoying if you ask me. How long has it been?"

"Almost four weeks," Yang answered. Her face fell when she noticed the dust infused into her friends, and put out her hand to touch the area surround Blake's implant. "What the fuck did they do to you? And what are these collars?"

"Dust experimentation," Blake growled. "They implanted whole dust crystals into our bodies. You know how some people put dust in tattoos to use it that way? Cinder wanted to see what infusing the entire thing would do. Spoiler alert; it's jack shit. The crystals didn't do anything at all."

"The collars stop us from using our semblances," Nora continued. "Whenever we try to use them, we get shocked."

Ren looked confused, "But doesn't that fuel your semblance?"

"I thought it would, but it doesn't. I don't know how they work, but it doesn't power me up when it shocks me. It fucking HURTS! Oh, and don't even get me STARTED on what having dust crystals stabbed into me felt like."

"Wouldn't know," Mercury chuckled. "Cinder decided to give my legs an upgrade instead of infusing me." He lifted his pant leg to reveal much sleeker robotic legs than he'd had previously, both of which seemed to be glowing with a faint white light.

"Lucky fuck," Coco grumbled.

"Well well," a familiar voice suddenly spoke up from the doorway, and the group turned in horror to see Roman Torchwick walking toward them, along with two dozen guards. "What have we here? Looks like we didn't need to go through the trouble of capturing you at all, Neo. You just walked right into our hands. Gotta love it when your work does itself."

Neo glared at him, "Why do you want to kidnap me so badly? I'm pregnant, it's not like I'm any use to you."

Roman grinned, "That's where you're wrong. Guards, get them all in collars and back in their cells. I'm gonna give Cinder a call and let her know that she can pull Lexy and Tusk back."

"Not happening," Pyrrha scowled. She whipped her arms around and sent the iron bars from the cells flying into the White Fang men, knocking them all off their feet. "RUN!"

The group took off down the hallway, but they met heavy resistance along the way. "Protect Neo!" Ruby called out, having the rest of them form a circle around the girl. "Whatever they want her for so badly, they're not gonna get her!"

They fought their way out of the hallway and into the open front of the warehouse, but were stopped in their tracks when they found five Atlesian paladins waiting for them. They held their barrier around Neo, weapons at the ready, but they were clearly outmatched. More guards poured in to surround them, and all methods of escape seemed cut off.

"A good effort, I'll give you that," Roman cackled as he came up behind them. "You're not gonna get out of here, though. You broke into a storehouse full of weapons and army tech. Did you honestly think you'd just be able to walk out the front door when you were done?"

Neo shrugged, "Well, we were kinda hoping."

"And ideas?" Coco whispered.

"We need to get to the main control room," Mercury said as some of the guards closed in. "The laboratory is powered by a huge dust generator. Super unstable. If we turn off the right release vents, we'll turn this place into a crater. It's the door to our right."

Ruby nodded, "We move as one. Ready? GO!"

The group suddenly sprinted toward the control room doors, knocking guards out of the way the paladins opened fire. Neo used her parasol to block as much as she could while Pyrrha used her shield and semblance to do the same. Once they were in the tunnel, Pyrrha brought down the metal ceiling and collapse the entrance and buy them some time. There were other ways to the control rooms, but this would at least give them a head start. They started moving again, but realised that only eight of them were running.

"G-Guys..." Mercury's pained voice came from a few yards back. He was clutching his side and his stomach, and his hands were covered in blood. "I-I think they got me..."

"MERCURY!" Neo screamed as she ran back to him, everyone else following behind her. "Holy shit, no no no! How bad is it?"

"I-I think two rounds g-got through my aura. Holy f-fuck this hurts..."

"We need to move," Ren said in a worried voice. "Can you walk?"

Yang shook her head and helped the boy to his feet, leaning him on her shoulder, "We'll get you patched up when we reach the control room. C'mon, we can't stop here."

They slowly made their way down the hallway, leaving a trail of red droplets behind them. Neo couldn't believe her eyes as she watched Mercury in so much pain, blood covering his shirt, pants, hands, and some coming from the corner of his mouth. As strong as he was, she had a sinking feeling about how bad his wounds were.

They reached the control room and Pyrrha used her semblance to seal the doors from the inside. It wasn't permanent, but it would give them enough time to go through with Mercury's plan. Yang say Mercury up against the wall, and Ruby started tearing off pieces of her cloak to cover up the bullet holes and put pressure on them. Meanwhile, Blake and Ren worked on the computer and started shutting down the exhaust vents. Errors and warnings flashed across the screen, and they watched as the indicators for core temperature, integrity, and containment field exceeded their safe limits.

"It's started," Ren called out. "The whole system is overloading. Shouldn't be long bef-"

A massive explosion suddenly erupted from a pipe above them, sending shrapnel flying everywhere and flooding the room with steam. Pyrrha used her semblance once again to seal it, and it took a few moments for the dense fog to dissipate. "Ren?" she asked, seeing him lying on the floor below where the pipe had burst. "REN!"

"Son of a bitch..." Ren moaned as Pyrrha helped him back to his feet. There was a huge cut along his forehead that was pouring blood down onto his face, and he wobbled as he tried to maintain his balance. Ruby ripped another part of her cloak to bandage him, but he was very clearly concussed.

"We have to go," Pyrrha said with a shaky voice.

"Mercury isn't gonna be able to walk," Yang said from beside the wounded boy. "We're gonna need to carry him. Can we seal this room after we leave so that people can't reopen the exhaust?"

Pyrrha shook her head, "I need to save my energy to get us out. I don't have enough left in me to seal this room any better."

"Then how do we keep them out?" Nora asked, starting to sound scared.

"Get ou- out of here," Mercury spoke up, wincing. "You're n-not gonna be able to get m-me out. I'll make sure n-no one can stop the meltdown."

Pyrrha shook her head, "Absolutely not. We're not leaving you behind. We can-"

"N-No, you can't! Someone will g-get here before we can escape. Someone needs to- to stay behind. Might as well be m-me."

"There has to be another way," Blake insisted, but the worry in her voice and in her eyes showed that she didn't believe her words.

Mercury gave a pained smile, "Guys, i-it's okay. I'm ready. I love you guys, a-all of you. Make sure Emerald h-hears that, too."

Neo felt tears running down her cheeks, but she knew that there wasn't another way to get out and still destroy the facility; not with the time they had, at least. She pulled out her scroll and called Mercury's, setting them both to speaker and putting his in his hand. "We'll be with you until the end," she choked out.

"You'd b-better be. Now go!"

The group shared a few hesitant and worried looks, but there wasn't enough time to argue or have a better goodbye. They sprinted from the room, all looking back to watch Mercury wave as they rounded a corner. Neo was in tears, doing her best not to collapse to her knees. Her entire body felt numb, knowing that she'd just seen her closest friend for the last time.

' _He's braver than we give him credit for,_ ' Beo mumbled, the sadness evident in her voice.

Pyrrha blasted the doors to the outside open with her semblance, and the group continued to run until they were on a tall hill about three hundred yards from the facility. They took a moment to collect themselves and catch their breath before Neo set her scroll down in the middle of them.

"Merc?" she nervously asked. "You still there?"

He chuckled, "Yeah, I'm s-still here. Did you m-make it out okay?" His voice had grown much weaker than when they'd left him.

Coco nodded, "We're all good. Hey... I'm sorry about all the stuff I said while we were in there. I didn't mean it."

"R-Relax, I deserved it. I'm s-sorry about all of this. It's funny, Coco w-wasn't supposed to be here. They wanted Yatsuh-hashi, but you were just in th-the wrong place at the w-wrong time."

"How're you holding up?" Blake asked, sniffling as she tried not to cry.

"I-I've been better," Mercury said with a pained laugh. "On the b-bright side, I- FUCK!" The sound of gunfire filled the air for a few seconds, twelve shots in total, followed by complete silence.

"MERCURY?" Neo shrieked, not getting a reply. "MERCURY! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?"

"We need to get to him," Pyrrha said, reaching for her sword and shield.

"How?" Yang asked. "There's no way we can get there in time."

Ruby gasped, a determined look coming over her, "You can't, but I can." She disappeared in a cloud of rose petals that flew off toward the facility, vanishing through the outer doors before anyone had a chance to speak.

"RUBY! NO!" Yang screamed, but it was far too late for her sister to hear.

The sounds of gunshots suddenly came through Neo's scroll, along with the distinct sounds of Crescent Rose being swung. The combat died down after a moment, being replaced by a terrifying quiet that last for what felt like an eternity.

"Guys?" Ruby asked, and they all let out a sigh of relief.

"We're here, sis," Yang said as tears streamed down her cheeks.

"Guys, Mercury isn't responsive... I think he might be... He might be-"

"Ruby, please get out of there," Nora begged. "You still have time!"

The redhead sighed, "I can't. More people could come, and we don't know how long it'll be before the reactor blows."

"Then try-" Ren began, but was cut off as a piercing siren came through the phone.

"Core breached..." Ruby said, most likely reading it off of a display screen in the room. "Yang, I love you. I love you so much. Tell dad-"

The call turned to static as the facility erupted in a massive fireball. The shockwave passed over the group as they looked on, watching the flames turn to billowing plumes of smoke. Shrapnel and pieces of rubble slowly started to rain down around them, but they didn't care. Yang and Neo both fell to their knees, staring in horror at the blackened crater.

"No..." Yang said in a whisper. "No... No no no NO! RUBY!" She collapsed onto her side, curling up in a ball and sobbing uncontrollably.

Blake moved to her partner's side to try to comfort her, but she wasn't faring any better. "Wh-What now?" she asked, holding Yang close.

"We need to get back to Beacon," Nora insisted, although she looked torn having to say it. "Ren needs a doctor."

Yang shook her head, "I can't... I can't leave... I can't leave Ruby..."

"It's no use," Ren sighed. "She's-"

"Then let's look for her," Neo interrupted, standing back up and looking around the group. "Yang and I will search for Ruby and Mercury. I'm not leaving here without either them or proof that they... yeah. Blake, can you stay with us? The rest of you need to get Ren to a hospital."

Blake nodded, and the rest of the group did as well. They very carefully helped Ren to his feet and started toward a more open section of forest while Pyrrha called for an emergency airship. Blake and Neo helped Yang to her feet and started back toward where the facility had stood, scanning the ground as they walked for any sign of their friends.

"As much as I want to have hope," Blake hesitantly began. "I don't think the chances of them surviving are very high."

Neo gave a weak nod, "I know. That doesn't mean I won't hold out that they did."

"Agreed," Yang added. "I won't abandon my sister."

Beo sighed, ' _The odds of them surviving a blast like that are so low..._ '

' _I know,_ ' Neo replied. ' _I just... I have a feeling that they're still alive. They have to be..._ '

 **Remember when Mercury and Ruby nearly stayed behind in the Shadowfang canyon? Foreshadowing. (; So what do you guys think; did they survive? I guess we'll find out next chapter. Be sure to follow, favourite, and review, check out my profile if you wanna help support me, and I'll see you guys next time!**


	11. When All is Lost

**IMPORTANT: There were a number of glaring mistakes I made in the last chapter due to my rush. Jaune was NOT part of the facility group, and it was Ren that got hurt in the control room. There are a few other minor errors and inconsistencies I went back and fixed as well.**

 **Moving on, I noticed a lot of pitchforks and torches after the ending of the last chapter. Just relax. I write everything for a reason. Hopefully this chapter will put you at ease. (:**

Chapter 11: When All is Lost

"It just doesn't make sense..." Emerald insisted, staring down at her feet. "There's no way we should've gotten away that easily."

She, Neo, Weiss, and Blake were sat around in team NEMP's room. It was Wednesday afternoon, two days after the escape from Cinder's facility, and nothing had been right since. Nobody in their group of friends was alright, and any hopes of a normal rest of their school career had been shattered. Yang and Emerald were taking it the hardest, which came as no surprise.

Weiss shook her head, "I think you're reading too much into it. We got lucky, at least... most of us did."

"But it doesn't add up! Why wasn't Cinder there to stop us? Why didn't Roman put up more of a fight? It feels like they wanted us to escape."

"I agree on one point," Blake replied. "Cinder not being there was strange to me. She was there about an hour before you came, and from the way she was talking, it sounded like she should've stuck around."

"Let's start from the beginning, then," Neo sighed, looking to Blake. "Walk us through everything that happened while you were there. Was there anything that stuck out?"

"I didn't leave anything out the last time I told you. We were captured, infused with dust, had to do a lot of tests and exercises, and that was about it."

Blake's face turned dark as she looked down at the dust crystals embedded in her skin. The doctors at the infirmary had told her and the rest of the group who'd been kidnapped that they'd be able to be removed, but not right away. They treated the dust with a few chemicals to help decrease the shock to the nervous system when they'd be removed, and now it was just a matter of waiting until they were cleared for surgery.

"You're sure there's nothing else?" Emerald pried, sure there was something they'd missed.

Neo nodded, "You said Cinder was there, and should've still been there. Is it possible she was somewhere that she couldn't reach us in time?"

"Not a chance," Emerald chuckled. "You know her better than that. She would've been right there with Roman to stop us."

"Wait a second," Blake murmured, her eyes starting to widen. "Now that I think about it, Cinder never actually showed herself. Not fully at least. I only ever saw her face on a display screen, or heard her talking from one of the hallways..."

"That's odd... Do you think she was trying to hide something from you?"

Blake shook her head at first, but then stopped to consider it more. "Well... Maybe? What could she want to hide from us?"

"What if she experimented on herself first?" Weiss asked. "Maybe she tried to put dust in herself and failed, and didn't want you to see."

Neo shrugged, "Not likely. Cinder would never be her own lab rat if she has ones she could use. Something is definitely off if she hid from you. That's not her style at all."

"Everything about this is wrong," Emerald added, and now her friends couldn't help but agree.

There was a short pause while the four girls thought, but there wasn't much to go on. Anything they came up with would be nothing more than speculation, and just as likely to be wrong as the next guess. Emerald stood up after a little while and started to pace around the room. Neo went to stand up as well, but Weiss put out an arm to stop her.

"Let her have some space," the heiress whispered.

"I'm fine," Emerald sighed, overhearing. "At least, I think I will be. Yang on the other hand..."

"I haven't seen her at all since we got back," Neo frowned. "How's she doing?"

"Not well," Weiss answered in a pained voice. "She's been crying in her bed... She's kinda given up hope."

"Ruby still might've survived," Neo urged, but even she didn't believe that. There had been no sign of Ruby or Mercury anywhere in the debris, at least not that they could find. There was still hope that Ruby could've used her semblance as the blast went off to get somewhere safe, but the chances were slim.

"They're still searching," Weiss reminded everyone. "Never say never. Ruby is a tough girl. She could've moved to safety in time and just be trapped under something."

Blake smiled, "She's definitely stubborn enough that she wouldn't let something as small as a dust meltdown get her."

"Small?" Neo laughed. "That's like a mosquito bite for Ruby. No way it killed her."

The room went silent again the moment "killed" left Neo's lips. It wasn't until then that the reality of it sunk in. Ruby and Mercury were most likely dead. None of them would ever see them again, and that realisation hit them all like a truck.

"W-We uh..." Emerald stammered, sniffling and wiping her eye. "We should go visit Yang. She could probably use some company. I know she's not gonna want it, but she needs it."

' _How're you holding up?_ ' Beo asked as Neo and the others stood up.

Neo sighed, ' _You know the answer to that already. I'm a mess inside that can hold it together pretty well on the outside. Nothing new._ '

The girls walked down the hall to team RWBY's room, and found Yang curled up under her blankets. She didn't move when the door opened, and at first Neo thought she was asleep, but she could hear a quiet sniffling coming from her. Blake slowly closed the door behind them, and they somewhat cautiously approached Yang's bed. Not having them in bunk beds this year meant that comforting her would be a little easier, but that didn't mean she'd want it.

"Hey," Blake said in a quiet voice, sitting down on the edge of the bed, near the middle.

Yang buried her face a little further into her pillow, "I just wanna be alone."

"We know," Weiss said with a soft smile. "But it's not healthy to stay like this. You need-"

"I SAID LEAVE!" Yang shouted, suddenly sitting up. Her eyes were red, and her teeth were clenched as she glared at her teammates.

Neo flinched back, along with everyone else, "Yang, please... We're hurting just as much as you... Mercury was like a brother to me and Em."

Yang held her ground for a moment, staring Neo down with fire in her eyes, but they soon faded back to purple as she took in what Neo had said. She looked down at her lap and started to cry again.

"Why?" she whimpered. "Why did she have to go back?"

"Yang, I'm so sorry," Blake squeaked, her voice cracking as she wrapped her teammate in a tight embrace.

Emerald kept her eyes on the ground, "She did what she thought she had to. She and Merc really are the bravest people I know, but I've never met someone more selfless than Ruby."

"I know..." Yang sullenly nodded. "I just... I wish I could've hugged her again or something... If I knew that moment on the hill was the last time I'd see her..."

"Please don't give up hope," Neo urged.

"Yeah, they're still searching for her," Weiss added. "Maybe she ended up trapped in the facility's kitchen, and is eating cookies while she waits for the rescue crew."

Yang gave a small chuckle, wiping her eyes and look up at Weiss, "Thanks, guys. I know I'm not the only one hurting, it's just... Nevermind. What have you guys been up to?"

"Talking about the escape," Emerald replied. "Not in the way you're thinking, though. There's some stuff that doesn't add up."

Yang cocked her head to the side, "Huh? Like what?"

Blake's scroll started to buzz as Emerald went to explain, and everyone started to laugh from the very corny robotic ringtone that was obviously Penny's.

"Racist, much?" Emerald asked, still giggling.

"Robot isn't a race," Blake replied, sticking out her tongue as she lifted her scroll to her ear. "And I'm the last person here to be racist. Hey, Penny! What's-? Whoa, whoa, slow down! You're where? ... Wait, REALLY? Is she-? ... Y-Yeah, we'll be right over. Room two thirteen, got it."

"What's up?" Neo asked, hers and everyone else's eyes on Blake

The Faunus girl smiled, her arm starting to tremble, "That was Penny; she's at the hospital. They found Ruby."

There were no words spoken as the five girls jumped to their feet and sprinted out of the dorm. Yang was at the front of the group, her tears gone as she moved as fast as her body would let her. It was raining very heavily outside, but they didn't seem to notice. They sped past the check-in desk and up the stairs, finding Penny standing outside of a closed room door. There was something off in her expression that Neo picked up on immediately, sending a jolt of fear up her spine.

' _Something's very wrong..._ ' Beo murmured, and Neo couldn't help but agree.

"How is she?" Yang asked, a mix of hope and concern showing in her voice.

"They're getting her comfortable," Penny replied. "I only got to see her for a moment before they made me wait out here."

Neo frowned, "That didn't answer Yang's question... Penny, is she okay?"

"She... She's alive. She's very badly injured, though."

"How badly?" Blake asked with a shaky voice.

The door opened as Penny started to talk, and a male doctor walked out. "You can see her now," he said. "She's in a lot of pain and needs rest, so please try not to excite her."

The girls didn't need any further invitation, and piled into the large room. Neo gasped when she say Ruby laying in the hospital bed. There were three things she noticed, each leading to the next, and each more heartbreaking than the last.

The first place her eyes went were to Ruby's face. Ruby's left eye was completely swollen shut, at least three inches of her hair was gone, and there were stitches on her forehead and cheek. It looked like the hair had been deliberately cut, and Neo guessed that it had been to even it out from burns or thick blood clots.

The next place her eyes went were to inspect the rest of Ruby's injuries. Her right hand was in a cast and in a sling across her chest, with a few different IV's in her forearm. Her entire left leg, all the way up to her hip, was in a cast and elevated. There were bandages wrapped across a large portion of her chest, and that's when Neo saw the most severe injury.

Ruby's entire left arm was missing. The bandages on the girl's chest wrapped up around her shoulder where the joint would've connected to her upper arm, but it was gone. Yang gasped and covered her mouth with her hands at the sight, as did most everyone else, which was enough noise to catch Ruby's attention. She very slowly turned her head and smiled when she saw who it was.

"Hey," she croaked.

"Oh my God," Yang whispered through her hands, a few new tears dripping down her cheeks. "Ruby..."

"How're you feeling, champ?" Neo asked as everyone walked over to the bedside.

Ruby gave a slight, pained chuckle, "Just a scratch. I'll be back on my feet in a week. Two at the most."

Neo couldn't help but snicker. Even now, Ruby was just as bubbly and optimistic as ever. ' _There really isn't anything that can keep her down,_ ' she thought.

"Yup, just a scratch," Yang smiled, wiping her watery eyes. "I'm so glad you're alive."

"Is everyone else okay?" Ruby asked, even now still more concerned for her friends.

Weiss nodded, "Yes, we're okay."

"Good, good. And... Mercury...? Did they find him too?"

"Not yet," Emerald sighed, shaking her head.

"O-Oh..." Ruby whispered, all happiness leaving her eyes. She lay still for a moment, staring down at her feet. "I guess I should've expected that... He was already... Wh-When I got back inside, he..."

"Shh, shh, it's okay," Blake reassured, kneeling beside the bed.

"You did everything you could," Penny smiled. "We couldn't ask anything more from you."

"Doesn't mean there wasn't more I could've done..." Ruby mumbled.

"C'mon, don't think like that," Neo said with an encouraging smile. "You were amazing back there. If it weren't for you, the warehouse meltdown might've been stopped, and everything Mercury did would've been for nothing."

"I guess. I just... I wanted to get everyone out okay. I didn't think about myself, I just... I don't know... Hey, would it be okay if I asked you to come back later tonight? I'm really tired..."

"No problem," Yang quickly replied, giving her little sister a very light kiss on her forehead. "Get some rest. Do you want us to bring you anything when we come back?"

"I wouldn't say no to a box of cookies," Ruby innocently smiled, making everyone else laugh.

"You got it, sis. Sweet dreams."

Over the next few days, there was an eerie calm that seemed to fall over the school. With how much had happened so far this year, and with how long it'd been without there being something that was going wrong, it almost felt as though something else were about to happen. The days blurred together, and even the weekend didn't bring any relief. No news about Mercury came in, and with each passing day, whatever hope was left of finding him alive faded away more and more.

There was one thing that did have a hope of brightening everyone's spirits, and that's that winter break was coming up fast. Friday was the last day of classes, and after that they were free to go home for the next three weeks. All that stood in their way were a few exams on Friday, but after all that'd happened recently, and exam barely felt like a challenge.

Thursday night came around, and Neo was starting to adjust to the fact that there was one bed in their room that would remain empty. Even though it'd been almost four weeks without Mercury there to sleep in it, knowing that he was really never coming back made it so much sadder. It wasn't that she'd entirely given up hope on his being found, but she knew it was astronomical that he'd still be alive at this point. She wanted to hold out hope, but it got harder every day.  
She curled up under her blankets as Emerald turned the lights off, and tried to find a comfortable position to lay in. She'd been having a lot of trouble sleeping, and hoped that she'd finally get a decent amount of rest tonight. Things didn't turn out that way, though, and as she eventually succumbed to slumber, her mind took her to a very dark place.

* * *

It was a cool spring day, just days before the start of the Vytal Festival Tournament. Neo didn't care about any of that, though. She was here for one purpose: revenge. She strutted through the grassy clearing that the festival grounds had been set up on, but they were surprisingly empty today, which worked in her favour. The only other person here was Yang, who was sitting alone at picnic bench, reading on her scroll. Neo grinned as she approached, walking more slowly to keep her footsteps quiet. She pulled her sword from its sheathe in her parasol, a wicked feeling of anticipation building up inside her.

Yang didn't notice her at all as she walked up behind her. Neo was only a foot way, and now it was time to have her fun. She lifted her arm, gripping her blade with the tip pointed down, and stabbed down over Yang's shoulder and straight through the back of the girl's right hand. There was a thud as the sword embedded itself in the wood of the table, and a loud cry of pain from Yang as Neo pulled back for another attack.

Yang gripped her hand and jumped up from the table, turning around and freezing in fear when she saw who it was. "N-Neo?" she stuttered, taking a few steps back. "Wh-Why are you here? How'd you get off the train?"

Neo smirked, invigorated by the terror in the eyes of her prey, "Just finishing what I started."

"Finishing? N-No, wait! You won! You beat me fair and square!"

"I wasn't trying to beat you," Neo playfully replied. "I was trying to kill you, and now I'm finally gonna. There's no guardian angel to save you this time."

Yang's eyes darted around her surroundings, looking for something or someone to help her, but they were the only two people in sight. "Please, I'm not even armed," Yang begged.

"Even better."

Neo lunged forward and planted a hard kick to Yang's stomach before she even had time to react. Yang recoiled as the wind was knocked out of her, dropping down to one knee and clutching her stomach with her uninjured arm. Neo didn't wait for her to recover, and made a quick slash to Yang's left shoulder, insuring that she would be completely unable to fight back. Yang collapsed on the ground with another scream of pain, and rolled over to look up at her attacker.

"Neo, please!" she pleaded, trying to crawl backwards. "Don't hurt me! I'll do anything! Please!"

Neo shook her head, an evil smile still on her lips, "Go ahead, keep struggling. I love it when they put up a fight."

"No no no, I'm begging you, please don't do this! You already won! You already beat me!"

"Keep begging," Neo purred, standing over Yang.

"P-Please..." Yang whimpered, tears streaming down her cheeks. "I'm not ready to die... I'm only seventeen..."

Neo chuckled and placed the tip of her blade on Yang's chest, right where her heart would be. She held the blade upright, both hands resting on the top of the handle, able to push down and end the girl's life at any moment. She paused, though, watching Yang panic and desperately try to figure a way out.

"Please no..." Yang continued to plead, staring up with her most pitiful eyes. "I'll give you anything you want. I swear, I'll do anything... I don't wanna die... Not like this... Please..."

"There's one thing you can do," Neo answered, suddenly taking a very serious tone.

"Anything! What is it? I-"

Yang was cut off as the blade suddenly pierced straight down through her chest. She gasped, coughed, and sputtered, blood starting to come out of her mouth. The light in her eyes started to dim, a look of agonising pain and terror sweeping over her. She looked to Neo, eyes watering from the glimpse of hope she'd been given and had taken away from her.

"I lied," Neo smiled, sounding playful and innocent. "Oh well."

She pulled her blade out, making Yang whimper in pain yet again. The blonde struggled to turn on her side, coughing up more blood. She failed to move and lay, breathing in shallow, ragged gasps until finally letting out a long, shaky sigh. Her eyes closed, and she didn't draw another breath.

* * *

"YANG!" Neo screamed, suddenly sitting up in her bed. She looked around in a panic, then slumped back onto her pillow. "Just another nightmare..."

"You okay?" Emerald asked, switching on her desk lamp.

"Y-Yeah... I had a really bad dream is all..."

Neo sighed and got out of bed, putting on her slippers and shuffling to the bathroom. She braced herself over the sink and splashed some cold water on her face to help calm her down, but it wasn't very effective. Her heart was still racing, and the cold sweats from the dream lingered. She leant her head down on the edge of the sink, then sat down on the floor. Her legs and hands were trembling still. She'd had a lot of nightmares before, but none like this.

Emerald quietly walked over and took a seat beside her teammate, putting her arm around the girl's shoulders. "Wanna talk about it?"

"No," Neo mumbled, shaking her head. The amount of sweat had made her hair matte to her forehead and neck, so it barely moved as she did so.

"Alright... Wanna come sleep in my bed with me? That's what we used to do when we had nightmares."

Neo snickered and rolled her eyes, "Yeah, when we were five. Still... I might take you up on that. I think I need to go for a walk first. I'm way too awake right now."

"Just be safe," Emerald smiled, getting to her feet and helping Neo do the same.

Neo grabbed her bathrobe and put it on over her tank top and sweatpants, and quietly crept out of the room as Emerald lay back down. She took a deep breath, closing the door behind her, and turned to take a stroll down the corridor. She didn't really have any planned destination, just to wander around the dorms and clear her head.

' _That was fucked up..._ ' she thought to herself, looking down at the floor as she walked along.

' _Let's be honest, we've done worse,_ ' Beo chuckled. ' _Sorry, not what you wanna hear right now. I wonder what set that off. All our other nightmares have been flashbacks. They've never been about-_ '

' _Killing our friends?_ ' Neo finished. ' _Yeah, I know. They keep getting worse..._ '

' _It's probably just our mind going nuts after everything that's happened. After all the shit we've seen and trying to cope with all this new shit... I'd be amazed if we somehow weren't affected by it. It's not like we don't have a whole host of other things wrong with us. What's one more, right?_ '

Neo gave a light laugh as she walked along, ' _You're not wrong. Do you think I should see a therapist or something? It couldn't hurt._ '

' _I'll leave that one up to you,_ ' Beo replied. ' _Maybe it'll help, maybe it'll bring out more demons. Who knows? Anyway, you should get some sleep. You've got an exam tomorrow, remember?_ '

' _Son of a bitch,_ ' Neo groaned, stopping and turning around. ' _I totally forgot about that... Alright, alright, I'll head back._ '

She took her time walking back, not wanting to work herself up, and crept back into her room as stealthily as she could. She took off her slippers and robe and tiptoed over to Emerald's bed, sliding in under the covers and snuggling up with her teammate. She couldn't remember the last time they'd had a friendly cuddle, and it was just what she needed in that moment. Her mind wandered for a while before she drifted back to sleep, hoping that the morning would bring something good.

 **Seriously though, platonic cuddles with your best friend are the absolute best. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. :p Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! Sorry I haven't updated in a while, but I've been having a really, really rough time. It's really nice to be writing again, though. See you guys soon. (:**


	12. A Welcome Holiday

**Hey, guys! Yes, yes, I know it's been a really long time, and I'll be honest about why. I kinda wrote myself into a place in this story where I just didn't enjoy writing it. The problem mainly was that I didn't want to rework the story and just push through, but I can't write if I don't enjoy what I'm writing. I've been doing some reworking, and I think I've gotten it somewhere that I'm happy with. Sorry for the wait, and I hope you enjoy.**

Chapter 12: A Welcome Holiday

"Full house," Blake declared, showing her cards. Team RWBY, Neo, Emerald, and Penny were gathered around Ruby's hospital bed playing a game of poker. She, Ruby, and Yang were the only ones left in on this hand.

Yang groaned, "Damn it, how do you always know when I'm bluffing? Pair of tens."

"You always bluff," Blake snickered. "I guess I-"

"Not so fast!" Ruby happily interjected. "Flush! I win!"

Weiss rolled her eyes, "A flush doesn't beat a-"

"Yup, you win," Blake laughed, using the poker app on her scroll to award Ruby the pot. She whispered to Weiss, "She lost an arm and is gonna be stuck in this bed for another three weeks. I'll let her have this one."

Penny collected the cards and started to deal out the next hand, but Ruby's nurse came in and had to dissolve the game so Ruby could take her medication and rest. Ruby protested as usual, but it was hard to argue with her sister, girlfriend, and nurse all at the same time.

"Rest up, sis," Yang smiled, kissing Ruby on her forehead.

The leader pouted, "I'm telling you, I feel fine! I'd go run a marathon if they'd let me."

"No," everyone said in unison.

"Oh c'mon, can I at least get up and walk around a little? Please?"

"Your leg is broken, you dolt," Weiss chuckled. "And the one arm you have that could use a crutch isn't strong enough to yet."

"This sucks..." Ruby gloomily mumbled, sinking into the bed. She had managed to keep a cheery and positive attitude so far, but the extend of her injuries was clearly starting to get to her.

"We could wheel you around," Neo smiled, looking to the nurse. "Maybe?"

He shook his head, "It's still too early to take her off her IV's. Another week at most."

Ruby pouted and put her arm across her chest, then yelled in frustration when she realised she couldn't even fold her arms in annoyance. "I hate this! I freaking hate this! I wish they hadn't found me..."

"Hey, don't talk like that," Yang frowned. She went in for a hug but was instantly shrugged off. "Just... try to get some rest, okay...? I love you, sis."

"I love you too..." Ruby sighed.

The group left the room to let her rest, and the somber mood followed them all the way back to the dorms. Ruby's worsening depression wasn't the only reason for it; the search for Mercury had officially been called off. It didn't come as a shock to any of them, but knowing that whatever glimmer of hope they'd been holding onto was gone still stung. The knowledge that Mercury was truly gone wasn't something they wanted to accept.

To Neo, the last few days before winter break felt stagnant. Every lecture felt like a murmur of jumbled words, combat classes a blur, electives and readings a chore. She was finding a depression taking over her as well from the loss of her friend. Her thoughts were all clouded, and even getting out of bed in the morning was difficult. She hoped that meeting Weiss' extended family over the holiday would pick her up, but even that could turn sour.

On the last day before heading out, the group gathered in the dining commons for dinner together. Ruby was still in the hospital, and Jaune and Pyrrha were running late because of a lecture that was still going on. Neo mostly picked at her food and pushed it around the plate, not feeling hungry. The table as a whole was very quiet, and needed someone to step up and start a conversation.

"So what's everyone doing for the holidays?" Weiss finally asked. "Everyone has a place to stay, right?"

Emerald nodded, "I'm going home with Yang. Her dad is really excited to meet me in person."

"I'll be staying with Sun," Blake smiled, blushing a little just from saying his name. Neo couldn't help but smile as well at how excited her friend was.

Penny perked up, "I'll be keeping Ruby company in the hospital since she's not able to go home."

"I feel bad leaving her behind," Yang sighed. "Dad has been worried sick and calling every night to check in on her. I wish we could bring her home."

"She's in good hands with me," Penny reassured her friend. "Plus, she and I should be able to start working on her new arm soon. The last parts will be here by Wednesday."

"New arm?" Neo asked.

"That's right! I asked my father and General Ironwood about sending us the components to build Ruby a mechanical arm. It'll take a while, but she's really excited. We'll be building it in the same style and colour as Crescent Rose."

"That's wonderful," Weiss smiled, as did the rest of the group. "If you need anything else to help with her recovery just let me know. I'm sure my father would be happy to help."

Neo grinned, "I dunno if happy is the right word, but yeah, he'd lend a helping hand. Nora? Ren? What about you guys?"

"We're staying here as well," Ren replied. "We have permission to stay in the dorms over the break."

Nora nodded and happily turned to Penny, "I guess that means we'll be keeping you guys company too!"

"Don't forget about us~!" Pyrrha sang as she and Jaune walked over to the table. She did a little dance as she sat down, clearly very excited about something.

"Go on," Neo laughed, sensing some interesting plans. "Where are you two headed?"

Jaune blushed, "I'm taking her to a resort for a couple's vacation."

"I'm so excited!" Pyrrha exclaimed, giving her boyfriend a kiss on the cheek. "I'll be right back; need to use the little girl's room."

"Couple's vacation, hm?" Yang asked as Pyrrha walked off. "Sounds romantic. Any special plans, if you know what I mean?"

Jaune blushed even harder, and reached into his backpack as Yang made a few lewd gestures. He pulled out a small black box, and the entire table gasped in unison as he opened it to reveal a diamond ring. "Special plans?" he grinned. "Yeah, you could say that."

"YOU'RE PROPOSING?" Nora exclaimed, nearly jumping out of her seat in excitement. "OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD!"

Blake smiled, "Congrats. I know she'll say yes."

"Here's hoping," Jaune laughed as he put the box away. "I was a little hesitant since it hasn't even been a year yet, but she really is perfect. Why wait if I already know she's the one?"

Weiss shrunk back a little at his last statement as the rest of the table congratulated Jaune, and Neo couldn't help but feel bad for her. ' _That's probably like a punch to the gut for her..._ '

' _Something like that,_ ' Beo agreed. ' _It's different for everyone, though. There's nothing wrong with wanting to wait for the right moment or whatever._ '

' _Look at you being romantic,_ ' Neo teased, grinning to herself.

Beo giggled, ' _I can be surprising too._ '

With a flicker of light, the chair beside Yang started to shimmer, and suddenly Beo appeared to fill it. She was dressed in the clothes she would've worn last year in the tournament with Cinder; black shirt and skirt, combat boots, black hair in pigtails, and green eyes.

"FINALLY!" Beo joyfully cheered while everyone jumped and gasped in surprise. "I've been trying to do this for WEEKS!"

"BEO?" Neo incredulously asked. "But-? How-? WHAT?"

"Our semblance is illusions, silly. Just using it to my advantage."

Yang looked at her and grinned, "Does that mean you'll shatter if I poke you?" She didn't wait for an answer and poked Beo in the shoulder, and sure enough, she shattered. She reappeared again a moment later with an unamused face.

"Don't do that," Beo said, rolling her eyes. "Anyway, I am soooo glad this finally worked! I am gonna prank you guys SO hard!"

"Evil," Jaune chuckled.

"No pranking the in-laws," Neo firmly stated. "I'm sure Weiss' family already hates us enough."

The heiress shrugged, "I think they'll like you. Most of them will, at least. If they're still visiting after being told their lesbian daughter is bringing her girlfriend home then how against it can they be?"

Beo kept the shenanigans to a minimum that night while she was still figuring out the limits of her illusionary self, and even though she was a little annoying, Neo still felt happy for her. It was nice to see someone enjoying themself.

* * *

"Neo, wake up," Weiss spoke softly, giving her girlfriend's shoulder a soft shake. "We just landed in Atlas."

Neo yawned wide and stretched, "Mmm, 'kay. How far is it now from the airport?"

"About a half hour once we get our bags and get in the helicopter. I figured you wouldn't mind being flown in to the helipad in the backyard."

"You have a private-? Nevermind, not sure why I'm surprised," Neo laughed. "We will have one when we get our own house together?"

"If you want," the heiress grinned, always amused by how much Neo loved to be spoiled.

They gathered their bags and boarded the helicopter, making the quick flight to the Schnee estate. Butlers and servants were there to greet them, including Klein, who Weiss was very happy to see again. As they disembarked and gathered their luggage, another familiar face came out to greet them.

"Welcome home, little sister," Winter smiled as she wrapped Weiss in a tight hug. "It's good to see you again."

"Likewise," Weiss beamed. "Who else has arrived so far?"

Her sister grinned, "Everyone. You and Neo are the last ones to get here."

"I guess that'll make introductions easier," Neo giggled and she and Winter shared a hug as well.

Klein showed them inside while the other servants took their belongings upstairs to their room. It was dinnertime, and Klein informed the girls that the extended family was in the dining room. Two aunts and uncles, Jacque's parents, and six cousins all gathered and giving Neo anxiety the closer she drew to meeting them. They arrived at the doors to the lavish room, and Weiss and Neo both paused to breathe.

"Ready?" the heiress asked, putting her hand on the doorknob.

"Ready as I'll ever be."

She opened the doors, and all heads turned to see who had arrived. "Weiss," her father smiled. "I'm glad you made it here safely. No troubles on the way?"

"None at all," Weiss smiled, blushing as eyes started drifting to Neo. "Everyone, this is my girlfriend, Neo. Neo, I'll introduce you to everyone once we sit down."

Neo gave a shy wave, "Hello."

Neither she nor Weiss knew what they were expecting to happen next. What did happen was that a number of hello's came from around the table, and everyone went back to eating. That changed once the two got seated, and soon the barrage of questions came about school, how they met, things about the upcoming children, and many more. What surprised them the most was nobody seemed to be ignoring the conversation or Neo. All her relatives were simply happy to see her, which came as a huge relief.

"So let's hear it," her cousin Sal asked with a sly grin. "How'd you two meet?"

"Which time?" Neo giggled. "Technically we met twice before we talked. Both times she pulled a sword on me. The first time we met and talked, well, she still pulled her sword."

Weiss blushed and gave her girlfriend a grin and friendly glare as the table laughed. "To be fair, you'd tried to kill me how many times before that?"

"You? Zero. Yang, one the other hand, was once."

"And me once," Winter interjected from across the table. "Remember a certain dust shipment you and Roman hijacked about two years ago?"

Neo grinned, "Hey, I said I was sorry! And your hair's grown back just fine."

"After a year," Winter smirked. "And you only won because I tripped on spilled dust crystals."

"I'm up for a rematch whenev-"

"After you have our kids," Weiss interrupted, rolling her eyes while she laughed. "You are not fighting anyone while they're still in there."

"Have you thought of names yet?" one of her aunts asked.

"We've talked about it a little, but we aren't making any final decisions until they're born and we can see what they look like. We're both thinking of gemstone names, though. Things like Sapphire, Diamond, Amethyst."

"I know one for certain," Neo smiled. "If one's a girl and she takes after me, I'm naming her Vanilla."

"That's a very pretty name," Weiss' mother smiled, joining the conversation at last.

Neo and Weiss both blushed, happy to see her being accepting. With the family not reacting well and the girl's nerves calmed, it turned into a wonderful evening. More just like it followed over the next few days, and Neo felt right at home with Weiss' relatives. Everyone was so warm and happy to offer advice for her pregnancy and for the first few months after having her children.

' _It's great to know I have such a great support network,_ ' she thought to herself as she lay down in her bed. It was late now, and she was happy to have some alone time to relax. ' _Hey, Beo, getting any bad vibes from anyone or do they all seem genuine to you? I haven't picked up on any._ '

Beo shimmered and appeared laying on the pillow next to her, "Same here. As far as I can tell, they all love you, and who could blame them? You're pretty adorable."

"You're only saying that cuz we're the same person," Neo laughed.

"Maaaybe, but really, what's not to like once you get past... well, our past? You're a model citizen now, and you're kinda carrying grandbabies inside you, so how much can they really hate you?"

"I guess I was just being paranoid," Neo chuckled. "As always."

Beo rolled her eyes, "That's an understatement. While we're being paranoid, though, what're we gonna do about introducing your parents to Weiss'? If there's one thing we aren't over exaggerating about, it's that the Schnee family don't take super well to Faunus."

"I thought they knew about Blake and were fine with it?"

"Not that I'm aware of," Beo replied. "But even so, Blake is just a friend. Their sister-in-law is gonna be a Faunus, and I don't think they're gonna like that."

Neo simply shrugged, "Yeah, well, they can get over it. I've finally got my real mom back in my life, and there is no way in hell I'm losing her. She settled into her pillows and sighed, thinking about her family. She was thrilled that she'd be visiting them before heading back to Beacon.

"I'd call you an idiot if you did. I'm sure Weiss' folks will get over it in time, but I expect a freakout the first time they meet. OH! We should TOTALLY video chat while we're here! That'd-"

"No," Neo cut in, laughing. "Let me enjoy them liking me for a while. I get to have all the butlers wait on me while they do."

If there was one thing Neo enjoyed most about her time at the Schnee estate, it was being pampered. Especially given that she was pregnant, the servants in the house were more than glad to help her out and make her as comfortable. She loved that she could request crazy food combinations when her cravings struck at the oddest hours and still have them fulfilled. After a life of mostly scraping by, this was heaven.

A week and a half into their three week break, things seemed to settle down now that everyone was acquainted and settled in. The weather up until then had been very cold and snowing, but the forecast of the next few days promised sun and warmed temperatures. Weiss and Neo were more than happy to get out of the house just for a change of pace, and a walk around the estate seemed like the perfect way to do it now that blizzard winds wouldn't freeze them mid-step.

"Ready to go for a walk?" Weiss asked as she poked her head into Neo's room. She was still bundled up in layers because although it was warmed than it had been, it was still fairly cold.

Neo was bundled as well, and lacing up her snow boots when her girlfriend popped in. "Almost," she smiled, putting on her other boot and adjusting her scarf and beanie. "Okie dokie, let's go!"

They headed out through the back door so they could walk through the arboretum first. Even though the colourful plants and trees were covered with snow, the fresh, white powder covering the leafless limbs was still very beautiful. Neo loved the crunch of the snow under her boots, and dragged her feet a little to make lines and patterns behind her as she walked, giggling the whole time.

"You're a child," Weiss remarked with an amused smile. "Going to make a snow angel next?"

Without a moment of hesitation, Neo lay back in the snow along the path and made one angel, and then another. "Yup," she giggled as she stood up and brushed herself off.

"And this is why I love you," the heiress giggled.

Neo blushed, "I'd hope there are lots of reasons why you do. So, what're the odds of us living in a place like this after we graduate and settle down together?"

"Given that I'm to be taking over the company once my dad retires, I'd say it's one hundred percent," Weiss smiled, taking Neo's hand and interlacing their fingers. "The thought of having an office job and being settled down is sounding better and better every day. The thought of having a family is really growing on me."

"And in me," Neo laughed.

' _Ooo, is she warming up to the kids?_ ' Beo asked. ' _That's what it sounds like to me._ '

Neo couldn't help but smile, ' _It certainly sounds like it._ '

"So what are you thinking about doing with school?" Weiss asked as they walked along. "I know you were worried about having to drop out before. Keep in mind that we could get an apartment on or off campus together and have a nanny to watch them during the day. You wouldn't be away from your classes that much."

"That's the thing, though. I know it's possible, but I'd still rather be raising them myself than having a nanny do it for me, especially while they're still so little. I could see doing that after we graduate and start spending time away on missions since they'll be older, but while they're still infants, I wanna be with them."

"So you do wanna drop out?" the heiress asked, not too surprised. It seemed like everyone back at Beacon knew Neo would be dropping out, but almost didn't want to accept it.

Neo contemplated it for a moment, "Honestly, I'm not sure yet. I don't think I'll be totally ready to choose until the babies actually arrive."

"That's fair. Besides, we- LOOK OUT!"

Weiss suddenly pulled Neo to the ground and something flew over their heads. When Neo turned to see what it was, she saw Lexy standing with her bladed gauntlets out, wearing an evil grin. Lexy charged them again, and this time was blocked as Weiss unsheathed Myrtenaster and met her halfway. Sparks flew as the blades collided, and again as the two disengaged. Lexy's gaze seemed to be fixed on Neo, but she knew she'd have to get through Weiss first.

Weiss narrowed her eyes and created a blue glyph behind her, using it to launch a barrage of ice spikes at Lexy. The cat girl had almost no trouble weaving through them as she ran back to Weiss, tucking into a roll and swinging for the girl's legs. The heiress jumped to avoid it, but Lexy's leg knocked her feet out from under her as she landed and sent her onto her back. She dodged to the side as Lexy impaled her blades into the ground where her head had been, and growled as she got back to her feet.

"What do you want?" Weiss asked, not taking her eyes off her foe.

"Neo," Lexy flatly replied. "I need her alive. You, on the other hand..."

She darted at Weiss and slashed wildly across the smaller girl's entire frame, forcing her to block at incredibly wide and awkward angles. Weiss managed to keep up with the onslaught long enough to make a red glyph at her feet. She leapt away as it exploded and threw Lexy back, but was knocked to the ground as the blast caught her as well. She tumbled over and lost her grip on her rapier, and Lexy immediately capitalised on it. She landed on her feet just like a cat and sprinted over, kicking the sword far past Weiss' grip.

"Nothing personal, hun," Lexy smirked, brandishing her steel claws as she walked toward Weiss. "But orders are orders."

"HEY!" a woman's voice suddenly called out behind them, and the massive arm of an ice blue Beringel caught Lexy in the chest. Weiss' mother had fire in her eyes as she watched the girl be thrown into the trunk of a tree. "Nobody hurts my baby."

Lexy was wobbly and dazed as she struggled back to her feet. She looked between the three girls, knowing she'd been beaten, and ran off into the forest.

"Neo, are you okay?" Weiss asked, rushing over.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," she assured her. "I'm more worried about you."

"I landed a little funny, but I'm okay. I don't know if I would be if my mom hadn't- Hey, mom, why are you here in the first place? Did you follow us?"

"I was actually on my way out to the gardens," her mother replied. "I figured I'd see you along the way, but I didn't expect it to be like this."

The heiress nodded, "Likewise. We should get back inside. If Lexy's here then there's no telling who or what else is. I think Neo and I will be staying inside as much as possible."

"I agree. I'll talk to your father and get more security here so you won't have to worry. Get some hot chocolate and try to relax, okay? I want to do a sweep of this area, just in case."

Weiss nodded and got Neo back inside as quickly as possible. Her mother had called the house and already informed her father by the time the girls got back, and her father was livid that someone had snuck onto their property to ambush them. Once he was assured the girls were alright, he stormed to his office to hire more guards for the rest of the week.

"I haven't seen him that mad in a long time," Weiss said as she joined Neo in her room.

Neo shrugged, "Can you blame him? I'd be acting the same way."

"Ahem, girls?" Klein asked from the doorway, smiling and carrying a silver tray with two large mugs. "I was told hot coco was in order. Given the circumstances, I went ahead and added extra marshmallows."

Weiss giggled as he handed her a cup, "You really are the best, Klein. Thank you."

"You're quite welcome. If there's anything else I can bring you, don't hesitate to ask!"

"Nachos?" Neo sheepishly asked as she sipped her mug.

"Right away, m'lady! Any toppings?"

She thought for a moment, "Um... Sour cream, bacon, and strawberries."

"Are you pregnant or high?" Weiss laughed, as Klein chuckled along with her.

"Coming right up," Klein smiled, and headed to the kitchen.

Neo giggled, "Yes to pregnant, and probably not to high. Does being high on you count?"

"Sure," Weiss blushed, and nuzzled in against her girlfriend.

They put in a movie and cuddled up together under the blankets while they watched and sipped their hot drinks. Neo got her nachos after a little while, which Weiss was happy to let her have all to herself.

"Hey, Weiss?" Neo whispered. "I love you."

The heiress smiled and pulled Neo closer, "I love you too."


End file.
